1D Electronics 2012-2014

Late in 2011 Hans-Joachim Roedelius and I agreed to embark upon an album project together... I assembled my first Eurorack modular synth... a basic single voice system with rudimentary sequencing. I had no experience whatsoever working in this way... my subliminal knew it would recognize the music I was reaching for, but my knowledge of electronic engineering was insufficient to proceed with any confidence... I studied and experimented with a new technique or concept. I recorded everything. The system grew. I found ways to create what I would call music using these new methods - to create points of departure for Roedelius. Three years later, it is clear that my submissions were still very much the work of a student... But is this a bad thing? Are the student's works necessarily inferior to the master's? Learning is often exciting, inspiring. Is knowing ever that much fun? Selected Studies Vol. 1 (BB 124CD/LP) was released early in 2013... A few months later, our record company Bureau B asked me what I planned to do with the unused submissions (both Joachim and I had submitted maybe 400% more than was ultimately used). Might I release some of them as a solo project? But they are not finished, I said... I have been recording songs for long enough, now, to be able to admit freely that some of my demo recordings are indeed superior to the final versions. But this was a different concept being proposed. I had deliberately left space for counterpart, harmony, whatever... could such space, such absence actually benefit the piece?... We agreed to work towards an album of what I have come to call 'slight pieces'. The result is called 1D. Some pieces were originally created with overdubs by another in mind. Some were simply experiments. One or two may have had loftier ambitions... None of the pieces involves the use of a piano keyboard or a computer, except to record it. Some modulations were executed by hand. Most were generated by programmed sequencers and logic. Each piece is a self contained electronic circuit... I made rudimentary edits, the difficult stuff was done by Jonas Foerster in Berlin. The artwork for the album is by Chris Hughes. Chris began sending me examples of his art of his around the same time I began sending him examples of the work which it seems to me it so naturally compliments.