Description
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“Brittle Bones” - 0:00
“The Straits of Understanding” - 8:57
“Ad Astra” - 16:12
If you'd like to know more about Instar, please peruse the video description for "We're Getting Older" and 'The Ex Nihilo Cycle' EP, both available on my channel.
It’s been too long since any new Instar material crept onto my channel! A portion of this EP was initially posted back in August of 2019: ”Brittle Bones" was featured, as well as a short piece entitled "In Weaving Find.” The revamped, final version of ‘Brittle’ is here, and ‘Weaving’ was folded into the beginning of the title track. There’s potential for additional B-side material to surface—stay tuned. Everything was mixed and mastered by Anthony DiGiacomo of Deep Resonance Studio.
These tunes were tracked very piecemeal: ‘Brittle’ in July 2018, ’Straits’ in January 2019, the ‘Weaving’ bit in July 2019, and the title track in December 2020. It’s a tad comical that my hair grows linearly throughout. Here are the notes for “Brittle Bones” from my original 2019 post:
There's an eighth-note triplet/quarter note pedal-hat-splash theme that occurs throughout this piece, introduced at 0:18 when the drums enter. The main groove (1:51) contains an interesting trade-off between 'shanked' (w/ stick) and pedaled quarters on the hi-hat. And as with previous Instar tunes, there are instances of spoken word complementations (0:33 "ache,” 5:23 "that"), crazy fill-in sequences (2:56, 3:27, 6:27), and a challenging coordination section (quasi 3-16 with the feet at 4:46 - 5:23). Always loads of minute details in these songs, down to the quick switching on of snares and transitioning from soft mallets to sticks at 1:15.
“The Straits of Understanding” is probably my favorite Instar tune to date. For the intro and outro, I tuned the kick up and utilized my Vic Firth wire brushes and VicKick fleece beater. Spoken word complementation (“me”) at 10:39, which also signals the dynamic shift to sticks and my usual kick sound. Greg programmed an absolutely delicious section based around rhythmic displacements, and I kept much of that information, adding a bit of my usual flair, idiosyncrasies, and some variations as the section unfolds. There’s a rather inconspicuous callback to the kick & tom-tom part in ‘Brittle,’ with the double-kick playing those parts (along with decorations on top) at 13:40. Tasty quintuplet fill-in at 14:29, and holy guacamole—there’s even a ‘gravity blast’ at 12:48.
“Ad Astra” has a whole lotta choppin’. These sections (17:30, 19:56) are based, compositionally, around a few of Greg’s favorite bass chords to which he also contributed to my solo piece “35 Going on Infinity” (the lore goes deep, y’all). There are sections we referred to as the Guard Theme that are also repeated here from ‘Brittle’; the drum moves are note-for-note quotes in some instances (5:25 / 19:05). There’s also an interesting sequence starting at 21:36: it’s five bars long, and the arrangement kinda dances around it. Still adhering to the dynamic arc, the pedal hats double at the appropriate midway point, and the sequence resumes, uninterrupted. “Ad Astra” spoken word complementation to close it all out.
Full drum set transcriptions:
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http://travisorbin.com/images/Instar-TheStraitsOfUnderstanding.JPG
http://travisorbin.com/images/Instar-AdAstra.JPG
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