Music for Van Fleets
| Studio Album by Scott Harwood | |
|---|---|
| Released | 23 August 2016 |
| Recorded | October 2014 - 4 August 2016 Tulsi Lane, Nimbin, Australia The Bedroom MV Caledonian Isles |
| Genre | Avant-Garde Ambient Techno Dub |
| Length | 42:49 |
| Label | Shedpop |
| Producer | Scott Harwood |
| Previous album | Waterfall of Heat (2015) |
| This album | Music for Van Fleets (2016) |
| Next album | B5AB6 (2016) |
Music for Van Fleets is the twenty-sixth album created by Scott Harwood. The album is distributed on the Shedpop label.
Production
In contrast to most of Harwood's previous albums, which usually took one or two days to record and release, Music for Van Fleets took nearly two years. The album was mostly composed and partially recorded in Harwood's van in Australia, which is the subject of the album cover.
The full album is slated to be released in mid-2016, however 'Stellar Freeway' was released on SoundCloud as a single on the 23 October 2015.
Production on the album was completed on the 4 August 2016 after long delays. The album was released on YouTube on the 23 August 2016.
Styling
Music for Van Fleets is Harwood's most complex and commercial album to date.
"Phoenix Rising" is characterised by a short poem run through YakItToMe, with delay effects added. The rest of the track involves a Mellotron solo over 2 VCS3 arpeggios. The track was named after a cafe in the Australian town of Nimbin, where Harwood resided from September 2014 to May 2015.
"Stellar Freeway" is a structured track characterised by an organ lead and a complex industrial beat. The track title was lifted from a track called 'Sci-Fi Hi-Fi' by the English space-rock band Earthling Society.
"Why Didn't I Think of This Before?" is an ambient track with a repetitive percussion beat provided by a VCS3.
"102.3" is a dub track that refers to the broadcast frequency of Nim-FM and the vast amount of reggae music that it is known to play.
"FDP" is the second dub track on the album.
"Tulsi Dia" is an ambient track characterised by an acoustic guitar lead.
"Forget Who You Are: Just Don't Forget Your Roots" is an ambient track that focuses on Harwood's attempt to 're-invent' himself in Australia, whilst not forgetting his heritage as characterised in the samples.
Samples
The album makes heavy use of (often heavily-modified) samples.
Stellar Freeway
- Various samples from the 1990s video game 'Spec Ops'
Tulsi Dia
- Various spoken word samples from David Peace One Love
Forget Who You Are: Just Don't Forget Your Roots
- A child singing "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at"
- Samples from the film "Kes"
Track listing
All tracks were written and produced by Scott Harwood.
- "Phoenix Rising" (04:29)
- "Stellar Freeway" (07:08)
- "Why Didn't I Think of This Before?" (03:26)
- "102.3" (05:20)
- "FDP" (00:57)
- "Tulsi Dia" (05:19)
- "Sophie na h-Lios Mór" (08:19)
- "Forget Who You Are: Just Don't Forget Your Roots" (07:48)
Personnel
Scott Harwood
- Native Instruments Reaktor 5
- Mellotron emulator (track 1)
- GarageBand for iPhone
- Native Instruments iMaschine
- Audacity
- YakItToMe (tracks 1, 3 and 5)
- Vocals (tracks 5 (uncredited sample), 6 and 8)
- Acoustic guitar (track 6)