Inferno

During the 'before times,' I was got an email from Joey Walker, an Indiana based singer-songwriter, to collaborate on a new album. His concept was to write a sort of modern take on the first part Dante's epic poem the Divine Comedy. Out of this came Inferno which will be released tomorrow, January 28th, and is currently available for pre-order! This is my first time orchestrating/arranging an album of what one could call pop songs and not "officially" composing anything. Joey would send over the piano/vocal versions of songs he wrote and I play around with it; turning chords on the piano into slowly glissing string parts, adding some odd instrumental sound effects, etc. It's the musical version of an interior designer; the house isn't mine but I picked out the couches and the pillows. The final product has a little bit of everything baked into three songs; a little big band influence, some hymn-like string orchestra sounds, a chirpy woodwind quintet. It's a liberating feeling to mess around with someone else's material than to write everything yourself. You are in some ways more willing to take certain risks that you wouldn't take in a piece that's entirely your own creation.

I hope you give the full album a listen, either by streaming it on all the platforms (Spotify, Apple Music) or, better yet, purchasing a copy!

Also, after being under a consortium contract for the better part of a year, my saxophone and percussion diatribe Deep State will be officially released and available for purchase starting February 1st! Any saxophone/percussion duos out there who were not part of the original commissioning group can now perform this, admittedly, very difficult piece.