” My lyric writing process is open and free, I write very freely – not in verse not in rhyme – with no structure in books and then at the point of coming to sing with a sort of semi-structured piece of music – or in many cases a singular riff – I will take the notebook and improvise the lyrics in real time…and then i’ll do a take – which is the take that goes on the album” – Lisa Busby, lecture.
What struck me about Lisa music at first was the truly free nature of it birth. Very abstract and so very liberating – her process of creation gave me a wonderful sense of juvenility and freedom, something I am always so entertained by in music and sound. The almost “child-like” nature of music composition by many an artist is what truly draws me to the exploration of sound and its uses in different ways. The spontaneous nature of her music in pieces such as ‘hollow blown egg’ and throughout her discography display a very juvenile sense of creation. There is an unusual sense of rhythm with usually a single riff to accompany everything else in the piece. The improv reminds of music by Derek Baily in the very sporadic yet tonal nature of the music.
The piece ‘2 Hollow Blown Egg’ is so incredibly intuitive – it feels like there is a certain direction, format and structure, with the piece changing at places that seem to be an introduction, verse etc yet at the same time, you never know how it will evolve, keeping you on your toes. I certainly did not expect the heavy buzz synth to come at 0:58 seconds. Paired with her voice it creates a wonderfully eerie, cryptic and surreal atmosphere. The piece continues to become louder and more violent as Busbys voice becomes more vocoded eventually ending abruptly. A piece that reinforces this idea of intensity and power also pushes feelings of delicacy, fragility and softness – presenting multiple layers of emotion.
Response Piece:
Lisas piece allowed me to gain a wider understanding of mixing two opposite sounding sonic tonalities to achieve an interesting result. I tried to musically keep a similar feel, texture and structure. i used a free to use vocal sample by Enlia along with a buzzy harsh synth to create a similar tonal effect. I also used automation, slowly increasing the volume as well as the distortion of the background synth. Playing the notes was also played a lot more freely – only using the first take and not having everything perfectly on time allowed for a more juvenile feel. Creating this was fun, which isn’t always the case when making something for a deadline, however this brought out a level of creativity and musicality i have not felt in a long time – the reason being he inspiration given to me by Lisa, and her freeing idea of improvisation and simplicity that i yearn to achieve when creating music and sound. And although i was not able to sing myself on it – possibly removing a lot of the quality compared to Lisa piece, I still felt as if I achieved an outcome where in which I successfully created something that portrayed simplicity and originality.