Still Waters - Single

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." (Psalm 23:1-3)

These words by King David, written over 3000 years ago, were the main inspiration for my song 'Still Waters'. The main idea of this piece was of peace; a thankful meditation on the calm blessing of nature, quiet and hope. 

One of my favourite places I've ever been is a valley in Schladming-Dachstein, Austria. It was astonishingly scenic, with towering green mountains and a wide glacial river. One of the photos I captured while there is the cover for the song, the image encapsulating the feelings I was trying to portray. 

With the musical content, I wanted to focus on texture and space, with a minimal pallet and a simple chord progression. The synths used are primarily of my own creation using Logic’s Retrosynth but I added some textures of other VSTs and a piano (Paul James’ Legacy Knight Piano + Synth VST) run through a delay and reverb chain.

The lead piano was recorded at my university’s studio using an upright mic’d with two KLM187s and an Aston Origin behind the piano, two NT5s, by the hammers and an NT5 at the centre. I mixed the signals together and added birdsong to evoke the themes of the song.