Mr Jones – Part 2

I have gone back to Part 2 of Mr Jones. This is based, as I mentioned in an earlier post, on the Love knows not watch. I am trying to create some kind of fusion here between electronic sound processing and minimalist music. You will be able to tell me whether or not it is successful!

The words on the watch face read “Love knows not what time is”. According to Mr Jones:

“The letters on this watch align once per hour to spell the phrase ‘Love knows not what time is’. For the rest of the time the letters of the text form an illegible pattern – a secret message shared between lovers.”

I am taking these words and varying them into 24 different word orders with different processing treatments. Each word treatment is a message between lovers on its own. The word order was generated randomly by me writing a free-form list.

The melody inherent in the recorded words is used as a starting point for melodic and harmonic development. I recorded the words on Saturday morning in a bit of a rush, so actually I’m slightly vexed that the recording levels are too high, but I will work with what I have. The harmonic accompaniment starts with the choir in changing harmonies driven partly by the harmonic content of the recorded words and should become mesmeric as the section progresses. The piano will join the harmony at some point, though I haven’t quite decided how. I am also as yet undecided on the treatment that each phrase will receive, though the first entry “time” has a delay and a long reverb.

I’m very excited about this 🙂 Now I should stop writing and get a move on . . . time is precious!