2024-Jul-06 - Ethereal
This week's random selection from my new album It Was All Just a Dream is kind of an oddball of a song.
Ethereal is track #3 on the first disk, and the song starts out with a synthesizer theme that I came up with when I was playing around on my Roland Juno-106 synthesizer. I felt that the synth tone that I came up with was an ethereal sound, thus the song title was born.
If you've listened to my music at all, you've likely noticed that ethereal sounding synthesizer intros are pretty common for my music. So why do I think it's such an oddball of a song?
Well, while the song is definitely an instrumental guitar song, there is pretty much NO melody in this song. There's nothing resembling any sort of typical "verse" or "chorus" structure. There's not even really any sort of harmonic movement beyond the power chords F#, E, and G. It's just a driving, relentless fusion of swirling techno synth sounds, metal guitar riffs, and and a solid bass and drum groove. And aside from the ethereal synthesizer sound in the intro, there's really nothing ethereal about the song. 🤣
But here's a cool tidbit... The first version of "Ethereal" was posted on an old MP3 sharing website called GarageBand back in the early 2000s (it was a GREAT music community and I still miss it!). A documentary producer/director named Peter Han heard the song and asked permission to use it in a project -- of course I agreed! If you ever get a chance to watch What It Takes: A Documentary About 4 World Class Triathletes' Quest for Greatness, you'll get to hear a clip of Ethereal near the end of the film. I'm credited as Groove Maneuver, as that was my music name back at that time.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0905644/
Ethereal features my beloved Sully Guitars USA Custom 625 and my Solar Guitars S2.6, both of which where played through my Mesa Boogie Mark V:25 using the IIC+ voice. While there are absolutely no wheedly-wheedly guitar noodlings on this song, the riffs are pretty brutal, so it is still a favorite of mine when I'm driving. Although I have to warn you: keep your eye on the speedometer! This song may influence an increase of downward force on your car's accelerator pedal. 😈
You can listen to this song as well as the entire 44 song collection right here on the website! If you love what you hear and want to support the music I make, please consider purchasing this album on CD or digital download. I will gladly personalize and autograph your copy.
https://chrisstark.com/it-was-all-just-a-dream
Keep an eye out for next Saturday's song spotlight, and as always, thank you sincerely for all of your support!
Love, Aloha, and Rock!
❤️😎🎸