Live feed from the studio

As I write this [February 2021] I’m experimenting with various streaming technologies which have been coded and built throughout the pandemic.

It’s exciting technology, and allows me [and thousands of other musicians and DJs] to stream content live in pretty reasonable quality.

I’ll either be playing records, chatting about what I’m playing..  or if you’re really fortunate, fiddling around on the production side of things.

So if you see me here, hello!

Don’t expect anything too polished, this is  simply a window into my world. 

‘Emptiness’

A track taken from my new album ‘Mellifluous’, released September 2022.

All instruments, vocals and video by Bruce.

‘Brough Blüthner’

A short improvisation played on a rather lovely old Blüthner grand piano which just so happened to be resident in the lounge of the place we stayed in whilst holidaying on the Orkneys during September, 2021.

Nice chords!

‘Meditations Phase I | ‘Ocean Floor’

A video accompaniment to ‘Ocean Floor’, the first phase of the four part suite of ambient compositions, named ‘Meditations’.

Released to coincide with the relaunch of this freshly designed site in Summer 2020, the album is designed with total relaxation in mind.

You can get the album here.

Dunno about you, but I’ve always had a thing about gazing at the washing flapping around on washing lines, and I hope this short helps you appreciate the visual aesthetic, too.

‘Meditations Phase II | ‘Deep Dive’

Another slow motion video which accompanies ‘Deep Dive’, the second phase off ‘Meditations’.

You can get the album here.

This video was shot on the cricket pitch at Great Hampden, Buckinghamshire. It’s a quintessentially English village and this is a slow motion film of the sprinkler doing its thing.

It’s amazing what layering and reversing can do to enhance a simple sequence. Mesmerising!

‘Far, low’

Another piano-based extemporised affair, recorded whilst furloughed in May 2020. My finger was gradually improving which is evident from the way I’m playing. At least, I hope so.

I took the basic recording into my studio and added a simple string arrangement to add a bit of body to the piece.

I felt that it was still lacking something, so I added a treated electric piano part which seemed to do the trick.

‘Piano Extemporisations’

I managed to severely damage myself after coming off my pushbike during March 2020.

I spent a very long time attempting to recuperate – doing lots of physiotherapy on both my left elbow, which I fractured, and my right index finger, which was properly mangled in the accident.

So – here’s an off the cuff improvisation, recorded in April 2020 gingerly using my dodgy finger. Sounds OK, actually…!

‘Spare Room’

A track off my 2017 double album, ‘Paracosmic‘, this was recorded in my old front room with Stuart Nisbet on guitar, and myself accompanying on the ol’ piano.

It’s a reflective piece and was recorded in one take. The video was filmed by Ed Richardson, during a weekend on the Northumbrian coast. Rain gave way to sunnier climes and the result is this rather lovely short.

‘All at Sea’

I can’t quite remember how this track came about, but it was written and recorded at the Bungalow in one night over the Summer of 2015. It’s a majestic track and unfolds over around seven minutes. This track appears on my 2017 album, ‘Paracosmic‘.

The video comprises various timelapse films which I’ve pulled and edited together. Works pretty well, I think..

‘Analogue Test .v5’

I bought an outboard effects unit in the shape of the Roland RE3 Space Echo, a 1U rack mount digital emulation of the original Space Echo, but without the enormous service bills. This track was the first jam I recorded using it.

The video was shot on Paros in Greece, and is simply an amalgamation of two beach shots.

Suitably aligned with the music I hope…

‘Joyous’

A jaunty little number, set to an edit of an amazing timelapse video shot by Harley Grady. Like the majority of other videos I’ve put together to date, this track appears opens up side two of ‘Paracosmic‘.

Inspiration came from another Northumbrian campervan trip that was undertaken in 2016.