The Guitar

 

This is my 2011 Fender Villager 12-string. This has been my main guitar since January 2012, taking over from a borrowed Yamaha APX-500. I love this guitar for the way it looks, the way it plays and – most importantly – the way it sounds. 

The reason that I decided to switch from mainly playing a 6-string to a 12-string is partly due to the type of music that I was listening to in 2011. At the time I was listening to The Coral’s “Butterfly House” album, and discovered a version of the album that was stripped back with only acoustic instruments. The way that the band used 6 and 12-strings mesmerised me, and I decided to look for a 12-string.

After my 20th birthday in December 2011, I started looking at different makes of guitar, and came across the Villager on the internet. I immediately loved the look of the guitar, and took the plunge. And ever since getting the guitar, I’ve almost been unable to put it down!

This guitar is the guitar featured on all guitar parts in the recordings. The effect of the jangle-y sound is particularly noticeable on “Drizzlepaint”, with its four guitar parts. 

“Drizzlepaint”

 

The third and final of the three songs written for this project is called “Drizzlepaint” and was inspired by Jackson Pollock’s 1948 “Untitled (Silver Over Black, White, Yellow & Red)”/

This painting is unusual in that it does not have a conventional subject (such as a person, landscape or scene). Pollock’s famous ‘drip paint’ technique was used to create this picture. The technique involves letting paint drip off the end of a brush in a controlled manner, as can be seen here (Pollock in 1951, working: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQQ36kojicg)

The song was composed over a period of two weeks and was put together in its final form on the day of recording in the studio. My initial idea was to create several layers of guitar parts of different pitches to put together to emulate the effect of layering one colour of paint over another when drip painting. There are four guitar parts within the song: one repeated chord, two repeating melodic parts and one part consisting of pinched harmonics in repetition. At first, I had planned to layer five guitar parts to mirror the five colours used by Pollock: however, in the studio my producer Laura and I decided that the mix was already very ‘busy’ and we decided to leave the piece with four guitar parts. 

Having never recorded a purely instrumental song before, this experience was a new one for me and if there were more instruments at hand and more time to work with in the studio then I would consider re-recording this with more instruments such as bass guitar, electric 6-string guitar and drums. 

You can hear the song here at: http://twelvestringsthreepaintings.bandcamp.com/track/drizzlepaint

“Guernica/Gernika”

 

The second of the three songs written for this project is called “Guernica/Gernika” and was inspired by Pablo Picasso’s 1937 work “Guernica”. The painting was created as an angry response to events in the ongoing Spanish Civil War.

At the time, Spain was embroiled in a bitter and bloody civil war between incumbent Republicans (who were anti-monarchy and left-wing) and Nationalists (pro-monarchy and ranged from conservatives to far-right fascists). The Nationalists were led by General Francisco Franco, who was an ally of the Fascist governments of Germany and Italy, led by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini respectively. In order to capture the Basque north of Spain Franco looked towards his Fascist allies for assistance, which they provided in the form of the Luftwaffe’s infamous Condor Legion.

On April 26th 1937, as the small Basque market town of Gernika was in the middle of another market day, the Condor Legion appeared overhead and started to drop their bombs on the town. Mass panic ensued as people ran into cellars and basements to escape the madness. Once the first bombs dropped and people emerged, a second wave of bombers appeared with machine-guns to mow down civilians. A third wave of planes followed, dropping incendiary bombs to set fire to the rubble that was once the town and make the scene look like the Basques had brought about their own destruction.

At the time of the bombing, Pablo Picasso was living in Paris and had received a commission from the Republican government of Spain to paint a large mural for the upcoming World Fair in the French capital. The Republicans (who Picasso implicitly supported against the Nationalists) had asked him to depict the plight of Spain’s besieged people. At first, Picasso was unsure as to what exactly he could paint – but on hearing of the bombing he was outraged and set to work immediately. The finished mural is a haunting image depicting chaos and death through a variety of figures. The image remains haunting to this day and is seen as a warning of the horrors of war. 

The resultant song’s lyrics are told from the perspective of an inhabitant of Gernika, enjoying the market with friends before experiencing the bombing and its aftermath. The song features various time-signature changes to depict the organised chaos – the chaos caused by the bombs, organised into three ruthless waves by the Luftwaffe General von Richthofen and Franco. 

You can hear the song here at: http://twelvestringsthreepaintings.bandcamp.com/track/guernica-gernika

“Paint The Sky Tonight”

The first of the three songs written for this project is called “Paint The Sky Tonight” and was inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s 1889 work “The Starry Night” At the time of the painting being created van Gogh was living in an asylum close to Arles in the south of France. The painting was done at night-time, and depicts a wonderful panorama of stars, the moon and clouds above a peaceful village, blissfully unaware of the activity above in the sky. 

The song’s lyrics come for the perspective of someone watching van Gogh at work on the painting. Despite van Gogh’s unstable mental state, he was able to come up with something wonderful – however, he spurned the artwork after finishing it. This may seem strange – especially given the painting’s elevated status within the art world today. 

I first saw this painting when I was 12 and the detailing of the painting impressed me particularly. The painting is a classic example of the impressionist style that made van Gogh so well-known alongside other impressionists such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas. 

You can hear the song here at: http://twelvestringsthreepaintings.bandcamp.com/track/paint-the-sky-tonight