Autumnals

This is the first of a set of four albums about the seasons, the idea for which I had around 2019. Before then I was composing prog-rock-inspired stuff, but I decided that older stuff from my student years was too out-there and not that well-composed or -produced, so Autumnals was me trying to adapt my older style to be more tuneful, memorable, and accessible. The seasons idea has quite obviously been done many, many times, but I went for it anyway for the sake of accessibility and also to add a new spin to that concept.

 

Some of the tracks contain direct personal memories and others are less-specific autumn images. I started the series with autumn rather than spring, mainly because it's my favourite season, but also because I've spent most of my life in and around academia (studying at two universities/colleges and then going on to teach piano in schools), and the academic year starts in autumn of course. Because of all that, I always find that I'm at my most productive and creative in the autumn months. So, against scientific and cultural convention, I associate autumn with new beginnings more than spring!

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