We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

At Noon, We Signal Midnight

by West Riding

supported by
dgregg49
dgregg49 thumbnail
jamiecedar
jamiecedar thumbnail
bettysmoot
bettysmoot thumbnail
keepo7125
keepo7125 thumbnail
/
1.
So Goes The Moonlight 05:25
info
buy track
2.
At Noon, We Signal Midnight 06:24
info
buy track
3.
They Must Arrive By Daylight 07:02
info
buy track

about

In this collection, I tie together three musical works into a small bundle inspired by the apparent - but false - dichotomy between our “small selves” and our “enlightened Selves.” Each of the teachings that inspired these works has this three-step process at its heart:
At first we don’t see what’s There, and we toil day and night trying to make Here more exciting, more fulfilling, more successful, and we generally fail to achieve anything truly meaningful. Self and other.
Then, after we’ve grown disillusioned with that effort, we start to see what’s There, we catch a glimmer of our true Selves, and we think it’s different from what we have Here, and we try to move to There and away from Here. Still self and other.
Eventually, and usually after much effort and anguish, we finally realize that there is no There as separate from Here, that There was Here all along, with nowhere else to go and no one else to be but the totality of our full and complete Selves, right Here, right now. No self, no other.
And then we immediately forget, and we have to start all over again. Chop wood, carry water.

In the commentary below, I present the original teachings that inspired the musical works, and then give my personal take on each one: not that my understanding or opinions are in any way “valid” or in any way useful to anyone else; in fact, they are most definitely highly flawed and incomplete. But if nothing else, they represent a specific point in time along the 3-step process described above. I debated the idea of presenting them at all, often landing on the side of simply telling the stories and letting you, the reader/listener, draw your own conclusions. In the end, the decision to include my take on these stories won out - maybe it was a desire for the reader/listener to more fully grasp my inner intent and meaning, or maybe it was therapeutic, in that writing out my understanding it helps me solidify how I work with it….or maybe it was just to puff up the ego that loves the sound of its own voice. Maybe all of the above!

Musically speaking, while the three compositions exhibited here are distinctly different in numerous ways, they share a common theme: a basic structure consisting of a repeated two-chord progression, over which the melodies and other elements evolve. In this way, the musical basis for the compositions mirrors the dharmic theme outlined above: the seeming duality of one versus the other, merged and melded into a singularity of musical sound.

credits

released May 21, 2023

James M Gregg (West Riding): electronics, trumpet
composed, recorded and mixed by James M Gregg at Rioghal Studios, March/April 2023
mastered by The SoundLab
cover photo "Self Portrait/At The Museum" by Jessica Beer (insta: on_my_walks)

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

West Riding image

West Riding Portland, Oregon

West Riding (aka James M Gregg) produces ambient, neo-classical and cinematic music inspired by quiet mountains, intrepid journeys and Zen koans, as well as artists such as Olafur Arnalds, Phillip Glass, Max Richter, Arve Henriksen, Hans Zimmer, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, Gustav Mahler and many more westriding.net ... more

contact / help

Contact West Riding

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like West Riding, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now