Declination Of The Sun

The fourth and final entry in my seasons tetralogy, which I originally named Sun Dances, which I would have kept had it not been already taken.

 

This album is the loudest and most heavy-going of the four, mainly because I've always found summer to be the most intense season for a number of reasons. I've never enjoyed very hot weather all that much, many other people do and so life becomes a lot more busy and hectic, and from an academic point of view it's almost always crunch time. It's far from all bad though, and I've managed to find some good fun, joyful inspirations for this one. Music-wise, the emphasis is on Hispanic influences like flamenco and Spanish classical guitar, hotter-sounding electronics to evoke sun and haze, and a touch of EDM as well to bring the joy levels up.

 

As with all of this series, the tracks are varyingly personal. In fact this album turned out to be something of a collection of passport stamps, as many of them are inspired by places I've been on summer trips: the Canary Islands for "Volcano Island Ballad", Venice for "The Aestival Fountain", Egypt and Dubai International Airport for "An Asphalt Desert", and Florida for "Wind-Away River". "Drizzle Woods" makes its last appearance and this time it's struggling under an unprecedented heatwave. The cycle's finale* "Wedding In The Sierra" I wrote straight after getting home from the wedding of two very good friends of mine in the Sierra Nevada, USA.

 

*I do feel that it is the finale of the series really, despite there being the 'hidden' track, Greener Than Green, which I felt needed to be there to wrap up the ideas from Race The Sunrise to tie the album together a bit, and also to join the album back to the beginning of "Autumnals" to complete the cycle. That way all the albums segue musically into their sequels. So to me "Greener" is the technical ending, but "Wedding" is the true ending.

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