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Ovid - Metamorphoses

by a Fourteen Days project

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1.
Book 1 03:33
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2.
Book 2 07:50
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3.
Book 3 04:50
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4.
Book 4 06:56
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5.
Book 5 05:11
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6.
Book 6 07:58
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7.
Book 7 02:20
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8.
Book 8 05:38
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9.
Book 9 10:11
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10.
Book 10 13:32
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11.
Book 11 05:23
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12.
Book 12 04:23
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13.
Book 13 03:45
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14.
Book 14 03:06
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15.
Book 15 07:05
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about

When I first read Ovid’s Metamorphoses, I could not help but compare its structure to that of an album. Ovid has every chapter flow into the next, and every chapter itself tells many stories, but the entire thing is done seamlessly. A single chapter of this book could be made into a full-length album, and it would still work. The thought of making an album out of it was something that I really wanted to do, but I held off for a year and a half, and over that time, the plan changed from a five hour long ambient piece, to a ninety-minute sprawling epic.

Over the course of December, I started re-reading the book, and planning out how to make this album. Thinking what instrument represented what story, and what tone it should be. I realize that the whole album had to flow together, and that the final and first song had to connect, as Ovid believes in the cycles of things, that all things come back around. To make this album feel like one song, I also decided to reuse certain loops of instrumentation to call back to the similarity of themes.

I also realized that this album would be greatly benefited by having different friends of mine to perform. Since this album required more instruments than I know how to play, as well as more vocals than just my own, which I could not provide. I talked with my friends about this, and as a lot of them had also read this book or liked mythology, they were willing to pitch in.

I knew, as the album was going to be around 90 minutes, that I would have to cut out a lot of the book. I found out each track had to average 6 minutes, and tried to base each track length on that, constantly dividing the length of what I had recorded by how many songs. I was always pleased to see that everything was still on track. Books 7 and 14 are both broken down to one story instead of all the of ground they cover. Book 7 had a lot more planned, but the concision of that track felt needed within the album.

Finding the balance between the song lengths took some planning. Most of which was ignore while producing the actual song, and instead just following what the music led me towards. Book two initially was a shorter track, but when Daniel Messick changed his mind back to performing both Phaethon and Byblis, I went with it, making it one of the longest tracks. Most of the songs were planned to hit the 6-minute mark, instead of varying around it as much as it did. Book one was meant to be a full 6-minutes, but once it was finished, it didn’t match with the plan, yet it seemed right, so it stayed.

Simpler songs, such as Books 12 and 13 were done to capture grand things in shorter, emotion led moments. Condensing battles into fast and tense guitar playing, and the falling of Troy in a slow, heavy, droning guitar. Listening to Book 13 being played for the first time was exactly what I had wanted to hear. Somehow Evan had gotten into my head and pulled out what I had wanted.

Ovid tells of discordant concord (Things that are contrasting yet work together) which I felt had to be a big part of this album. Sonically I had to think of what that would be like. I came to a few answers for it. Balancing beauty and pain creates an interesting sound. By making use of having sounds intentionally clip, it opens a whole new range of sounds. I found that having overlapping samples at different rates, and sometimes in different tones would create a feeling of something being off, and yet at times they would match together and create beautiful noises. Using methods such as these, I was able to capture discordant concord.

The biggest influences on this album were Brian Eno's The Ship, The Microphones' Mount Eerie, and Planetarium by Bryce Dessner, James McAlister, Nico Muhly, and Sufjan Stevens. I loved the expansiveness of those albums. They took an idea and fleshed it out into an expansive experience you could get lost in. Mount Eerie's use of white noise and atmosphere despite its constant changes was a big influence on how I tried to make my album flow. I decided to throw out a lot of guidelines for the structure of music and decided to follow what I felt the music should do, while following along in the book.

The album had a temporary setback when my laptop wouldn't start one morning. Luckily, I was able to get most of the files off it and get the project transferred to another laptop. Evan's guitar recordings were recorded the day before my laptop died. Thus, ending up being the last things I would ever record on it.

credits

released April 20, 2018

Notes and Credits

Based on The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Translated by Allen Mandelbaum.

Featuring...
Wendy Giles - Vocals on Tracks 1, and 6
Keith Giles - Vocals on Track 2
Ben Maley - Percussion on Tracks 2, 3, 15
Daniel Messick - Spoken Word on Tracks 2, 9
Kiersten Laxamana - Vocals on Tracks 3 and 4
Evan Swope - Guitar on Tracks 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, and 15
Justin Sinclair - Song on Track 10 (Orpheus), Piano on Track 11 (Orpheus reprise)
Aaron Ritter - Song on Track 10 (Pygmalion), Song on Track 12 (Iphigenia)

All Production by Fourteen Days, Except Track 10 (Orpheus) by Justin Sinclair

Thanks to all of you. I never could have made this without your willingness to take your own time to help me with this insane project.

Special Thanks to…

Ben Maley for performing more than I used, due to time constrictions.

Todd Thompson for advising me to limit the album to 90 minutes and help spark and guide my love for reading

Aaron Ritter for the good laughs during the recording.

Everyone who offered to help, but for one reason or another, were not able to make it in.

Everyone who has taken the time to listen to this album.

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Fourteen Days Portland, Oregon

Fourteen Days is a Artist/Producer that makes anything from ambient, to folk, to lo- fi.

Inspirations include The Flaming Lips, Brian Eno, Jim Guthrie, and Xiu Xiu.


I'm not someone to delete things, so instead I'll warn you to be careful when listening to anything before 2019. ... more

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