"You could say that Vangelis was trying to evoke a bleak future with his Blade Runner score, and Glove and Ghost does its best to conjure up a paranoid past. It’s almost like the antithesis of vaporwave’s blurry VCR–era nostalgia." Album of the Week- The Georgia Straight




The notes behind the making of the Dead Drop EP.

The Cold War was a significant presence during my formative years. The geo-political atmosphere was a bi-polar scenario looming in the background constantly for most of us. In the 1980's I consumed the pop culture, the primetime tv and all the sounds and glitz it brought with it.

The characters in the political theatre were NATO backed western powers and their adversaries. Those government organizations and propaganda machines informed us that they were pursuing containment policies to stop the spread of Communism throughout the free world. And the villains were the Iron Curtain governments and oppressive regimes throughout the world. At least that is how I remember it in the press and in the movies I saw in theatres with my contemporaries during that decade.

Those images I saw back then made their way into my thought process while I worked on the Dead Drop EP. I took a retrospective look at my youth, the music and the movies. There I found inspiration to work on the music.

Today the geo-political order seems to be retreating from democracy and fragmenting itself from interdependencies. That division created some unease in my thought process and I tried to express that with these tracks.

I wondered what a new cold war would be like in the 21st Century. What was and currently is the life of a spy? The uncertainty I was consumed with made its way onto the tracks of Dead Drop.

The synthesizer sounds I latched onto were angular, stark, and distorted.

The cold rainy days of British Columbia and the snow of early 2018 was my physical backdrop.

That is the background for this EP.


Some instruments used on the Dead Drop sessions include:

Sequential Circuits, Korg, Arturia, Novation and Roland synthesizers were used in the making of this recording. Aston microphones were used. Various drum machines were used. Heavily processed Hofner basses and Fender guitars were also used during the Dead Drop sessions.


Mixing & Mastering the album

In late October I enlisted the wonderful talents of Kermode to mix and master the EP. It was a decision I am fortunate to have made.

I wanted to finish the EP before end of year and doing it myself would have taken inifintely longer.

We anticipated 4-6 weeks to complete mixing and mastering.

During our early discussions we quickly agreed the EP still needed some production work before mixing. The tracks were strong, but needed to be shaped into what has become the final EP. Kermode became vital in helping me achieve results quickly and efficiently. Reduction (the amount of tracks per song), angular, distortion and dark were the keywords we used during mixing.

During the mixing phase Kermode brought out his arsenal of amps, processors and even a couple of synthesizers. He helped me take the Dead Drop demos to another level quickly.

We had great fun during the making of this EP. We worked quickly and in the end completed everything in 5 weeks.

Here it is for you to enjoy. Thank you so very much for listening!

richardM

January 2nd, 2019