The fact that astrology nevertheless yields valid results proves that it
is not the apparent positions of the stars which work, but rather the
times which are measured or determined by arbitrarily named stellar
positions. Time thus proves to be a stream of energy filled with
qualities and not, as our philosophy would have it, an abstract concept
or precondition of knowledge. - C.G. Jung, from Synchronicity and the Parannormal, Roderick Main, ed.
I realized after I finished my third album, Astral Law, that the second, Fresh Twigs, was the most experimental of the three I had made. There isn't really anything like "Gold Coast" on Java St. Bagatelles, or Astral Law, or even on the rest of Fresh Twigs -- but then Fresh Twigs is an album of one-offs.
When I say "experimental" I'm not talking about the genre -- I mean
that it really was an experiment, undertaken with an unforeseeable
outcome. And though the experiment that interests me the most in "Gold
Coast" has to do with time, at least three other qualities of the track
were experiments too. It's probably best to leave those qualities
unnamed. It'd be a bad idea to discuss the nature of the source
recording that I used, too. Unfortunately this makes for a short and
obtuse sleeve note, but at least it doesn't tamper with the spirit of
the piece.
The difficulty with the word "experimental" is that it's got a chilly
feel to it. Lab coats and florescent light and steel tables. Better to
say that "Gold Coast" was made by an intuitive process -- but let's face
it, nobody's going to take you seriously if you say something as
home-grown as that.
I have the most fun when I feel like my two minds -- the rational,
organized and diplomatic one -- and the the other -- creative and
elemental -- put aside their differences or duke it out (whatever it
takes) and make something together. Music is one activity both can
regularly agree on -- and finally, after a lot of years, each knows the
value of the other.
So yes, "Gold Coast" was an experiment, but the result was a romance. I hope that's how it comes across. - James Beaudreau
TRACK INFO / CREDITS:
Artist: James Beaudreau
Remastered by: Scott Hull at Masterdisk, March 2010
Assembly Dates: January 17 & 19, and May 2, 2008
Workbench recordings post date: April 13, 2010
Originally released on the album Fresh Twigs
in 2008.
