GARDEN SCENE

Ian C Stewart "Garden Scene" MP3

It seems like all I do here is bellyache and berate myself for all the missed opportunities and lapses in quality control I've slackered myself into.. I guess there are very few things I've ever recorded that I consider unqualified successes. "Garden Scene" is one of them.

This piece was recorded in 1995, one of the last things I did before firing up the AUTOreverse mechanism. I was in the zone just before I packed up the studio stuff for good. It wasn't for good, obviously, but that's sort of the effect it had on me at the time.

The song is a total, unashamed ripoff of all things Cocteau Twins and 1980s. Everything is reverbed to helen back. The drum machine is dialed in on that 4AD setting. The keyboard was probably my big Casio which was my workhorse for this song and most of the of the stuff on the Samarkand 'smooth jazz' (not really) album Pitch Wheel.

I don't need to make excuses for any aspect of this song, one of the very few I can say that about. Now it just needs some sexy female singing and it'll be complete.

This CD dates back to the early days of burning your own discs and printing your own labels. Back when I could still get excited about making unique things for other people to hopefully enjoy. This particular disc was made for a bro in England who claimed that he'd put vocals to anything I sent him. So I excitedly sent him a big batch of my beloved instrumentals and promptly never heard back from him.