Journey

Text in englischer Sprache verfügbar

About this album in short:
“I composed this album to share an experience. To take you on a journey to another place. 
It could be called ‘cinematic bass music’ and it follows a story that resembles Homer's Odyssey. A painting and an animation add a visual facet to it.”
And in more detail:
“The initial burst of inspiration that became the first track ’Enter’ opened a door for me. It led me on a different path than what I thought my solo album would be like. Listening to a first draft of it felt like entering into another world and that inspired the rest of the album as well as the concept behind it. It is constructed something like homers odyssey. Depart, different adventures, return. Each piece is an event on the trip that flows into the next. And because it is written in music, what happens on the journey is up to the imagination of the listener. When composing and recording I tried my best to make the whole Album one well connected flow. And it is meant to be experienced without stop from start to finish. Just like seeing a movie in the cinema. Only that with this one the canvas is behind your closed eyes.
Because the music sounds quite cinematic I was curious to see if visual artists would be interested in collaborating with me. And I’m very grateful that they were! The wonderful painter Vladimir Radujkov, painted his vision of Enter while listening to it (‘Portal for Johannes’). This became the album artwork. And Thomas de Wit ‘Thofabriek’ made a beautiful animation for the first piece Enter. (can be found on YouTube).
The ideas for the pieces came to me through improvisation. But I decided not to make a fully improvised album, and instead to treat what came to me in improvisation as seeds to be grown and nurtured into pieces. Within them I still have some improvised parts and the freedom to change things in the moment. And I tried to write music that I can perform live and solo. In some pieces I have both bass and melody function in the bass and then I add something more with my voice. In ‘A Quiet Place’ I tried playing a duo with myself using double stops and two voices over two strings. ‘Dragon’s Cave’ is an exploration of resonance and the low rumble of the instrument. The two Bass Guitar pieces use a loop, and for 'Enter' and 'Return' I recorded a ‘string section’ and some ambient sounds. ‘Now’ is a simple improvisation, concluding the Journey by arriving in the present moment. Everything you hear on the Album is played on Double Bass, Bass Guitar or Vocals.
And now I’m happy to be able to share this experience with you!
Bon voyage!”
Johannes Fend, 2021.