Reposting here...

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

JUDGEMENT - THE ALBUM

Hi All,

I just realised that I haven't written anything in the Blog about
the album. How could I forget? The truth be told, I've had no time.

Ok, here goes.

First, remember this line - "Judgement Day's not coming, soon
enough". That's my motto for this album.

As many of you may know, thing's have been busy (extremely) at VNV
HQ working on the album these last weeks. A few hours ago I got to
hear the mastered version in the studio and then in Peddy's car (he
of the DVD foodfight fame) which is an old tradition we have of
listening to a release once it's been mastered and finding out how
good it is by measuring the distance travelled, divided by the
average speed as.. oh, nevermind. Basically, how long it takes us
before we turn around. The mastering sounds great. It's definitely
an extremely strong album. We're really proud of this album.

The final track from the album was uploaded to the mastering company
last Friday and they've done a Sterling job (droll pun intended). To
tell you the truth, it couldn't have been any closer to the wire
than this. My thanks go out to the mastering company for their
patience and understanding. We lost two fuil days of mixing time
near the end of the production because of a one-in-a-million faulty
grounding loop that played random havoc with recording studio's ADT
Console (for those of you who don't speak tech - that's when the
warp exhaust couplings back up into the dilithium mix chamber
causing Trip to freak out, drop out of warp and give us the exciting
opportunity to meet yet another species with a messed up forehead
and issues with the bridge of their nose though the Andorians are
cool but don't get me started on what the special effects dept came
up with for the Tholians but since I've never been much of a trekkie
this means nothing to me. Oh, Vienna).

The album has now been sent to the pressing company, artwork
included, the US pressing company anyway. The rest is in the hands
of the Gods from here on out.

The album's out on April 10th in the US. The release date for Europe
is, or rather was, April 6th but then someone noticed that this is
in fact Good Friday and all the shops will be closed so the release
will be out on April 5th in Europe.

We are working with our distribution company to be able to take
preorders for the album on the first leg of the European tour. It is
very possible that the album will be available at the first US shows
before release date. We'll have some of our lads steal a few cases
out of the storage lockup because we love you all so much.


So, I guess I should give you a run down on the album. There are 10
tracks.

Here's the tracklist with a short description

1. Prelude - an instrumental and my homage to a few 70's electronic
musicians and other seminal artists. Being a prelude, it features
allusions to melodies used in the album either directly, inverted,
converted from major to minor (everytime we say goodbye - if you get
that joke-ette you're doing well and as old as I am), etc.

2. The Farthest Star - Melodic, sometimes melancholic, sometimes
uplifting, if you don't care either way - it's got beats. Seems to
be popular with people who didn't record it and hear it 4000 times.

3. Testament - If you liked the more indie oriented tracks on M+F
and wanted us to take it further. We took it a lot further because
no amount of going further has been spared for your enjoyment and
entertainment. We ordered six extra cases of go further before
recording. Goes well with a Pinot Noir.

4. Descent - slow grinding, hard hitting old-school style industrial
track. The lyrics do not describe puppies and sunflowers. I suspect
that this will be played by some as the last song before sleep
(hint).

5. Momentum - TBM (techno body music).. plain, simple and, as Mark
would say, no nonsense beats and bassline. This time featuring the
magic of vocals. Yes, that's right. I don't get the extended use of
having it as an instrumental here and then magically pulling a vocal
version out of my ar... my hat for the next release.

6. Nemesis - Simply put, it's fast. Touches of DAF and the
Buzzcocks. Lots of synth guitar (not to be confused with guitar
synth). One of my top 3 on the album. The chorus is where that line
at the top, the one I told you to remember, comes from. I can't wait
to play this live. If you don't like it, please select another
option or go forth and multiply.

7. Secluded Spaces - Ever noticed that on VNV albums, after the mad
fast track there's the slow or ambient track? Well, I like silver
linings *smiles* I also think the contrast makes a track, that
should be noticed, stand out more. I've wanted to do this track for
years. For the synth freaks, this used copious amounts of sounds
generated by Logic Pro's "Scultpture" and a secret weapon reverb
that makes an eventide give up and go home. I want to hear this
track in the middle of the desert.

8. Illusion - This track's a ballad which one of my friends
unfortunately described as "would get a leper laid". Yes, well, how
very poetic. However, being the inquisitive lads that we are, we aim
to try that out someday and prove or disprove the postulated
statement. The vocals had to be re-recorded as one line didn't just
sound like I'd mentioned a certain no-no place, the compressor used
on the vocal had inserted the crucial missing consonant all by
itself. This would have been a real "downer" on the sweet and nice
element that is everpresent, omniscient and other goth metal bands
who sing ballads all the time in movie soundtracks, in this song.

9. Carry You - also in my top 3 on the album. Part homage to early
80's synth heroes but in the VNV style of things. I imagine a bit of
dramatic hand swiping at imaginary bats to some of the lyrics on a
dancefloor near you soon. The chorus negates this effect and is
really pucker, positive and doesn't sing about how people made fun
of anyone at school. Look Ma, no grievances against the world.

10. As it fades - An instrumental that, in my mind, ends the album
perfectly. Thanks to Arvo Paert for the inspiration. Produced at 3
in the morning. 4 hours later I went outside and it was still
playing in my head. That's what sleep deprivation does to you, among
other things. Still, I would love this track to go on for another 3
minutes.


Some things that I experienced making this album that were
unexpected.

1. Finding out what it's like to be awake for a full 3 days when you
knew you had to get something finished. Who needs a narcotic
experience? Just wait 72 hours and see how f'd up you feel. I fell
asleep in mid sentence in the cab on the way home, something people
who know me pray I would do more often, I mean, look at the amount
I'm writing here? I just don't shut up.

2. Hearing a mix engineer shout "rabbits RABBITS" as though this
were a threat to his very life.

3. The mysterious phenomenon that switched on all the lights in the
entire studio complex just after we'd locked up and left.

4. Naming the espresso machine Edna and crediting her in
the "equipment used" on the album liner notes.

5. Getting caught listening to Ikara Colt at top volume at 5 in the
morning whilst jumping around.

6. Having a full conversation for 3 minutes with a piece of studio
equipment that wasn't doing what it was supposed to, with people
present (see #1).

7. Skateboarding while recording vocals. By that I mean, the person
supposed to be singing (i.e. me), singing into a microphone, while
on a skateboard, in the process of motion past the aformentioned
microphone, at speed. I can't use a skateboard to save my life and
no, the doppler effect doesn't work on short distances which was a
real bummer. Next time we'll try an experiment to see if animals can
affect an engineer's mixing. I'd say a Lemur or a rabid monkey and
we go upwards from there.

and so many more...

No, we do not do drugs. Quite the opposite in fact. Unless you
consider the occasional alcohol a drug but then isn't the feeling
from getting your hair done or when you go shopping the same thing?
Hmmm? I rest my case.

I'll shut up now. More on the making of we might never put out.

yours,
Ronan

(and Mark who is sitting next to me watching me type this rubbish
and shaking his head)

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