“WHERE WE WERE”, the new album from GREG HAINES, may come as a surprise upon first listen. The cascading strings that played such an important role in his prior work have disappeared, and in there place are intricate layers of tape-worn synthesizers. Any recordings of piano have been transformed and affected until their sound is at times barely recognizable. Moments of quiet, slowmoving textures can still be found, but they are nestled between upbeat, rhythmically-driven tracks that at times could even be considered for deployment on open-minded dancefloors. Although taking a year to complete, the nature of this record is born in its spontaneity and impulsiveness. The acoustic instruments such as piano, vibraphone and other percussion that found there way on to the album were not the result of months of composing - rather they were entirely improvised and often left completely unedited and raw. At first the idea was these rough tracks, full of noises and hiss, would later be re-recorded, but as the process drew on, it became clear that these kind of loose, half-thought moments were what defined the album - often “out-oftime” or “out-of-tune”, but always adding another dimension to the hazy, analog world of sound. This hand-crafted approach led to almost everything being constructed in the old-fashioned way; not with mouse-clicks, but with two hands moving dials and everything running to an aged tape machine.

This album is the result of one person sitting alone in a room and creating something entirely personal, without the frustrations of organising large-scale sessions for other players or the laborious work of preparing scores. In fact, the few scored moments that were written were later disregarded, with a whole string session with PETER BRODERICK ending up on the cutting-room floor (sorry, Peter!), along with endless hours of other material. What is left is the condensed diary of a year of exploring old tape del.......
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