Search - Brendan Perry :: Ark

My latest album Ark has been a truly independent effort on my part, in which I have written, performed, recorded and produced all of the compositions therein.
My working process for this album is more akin to that of an artisan who oversees the entire creative process from start to finish.
Ark comprises eight original compositions in total that explore the recurring themes of identity, alienation, war, political corruption and the threat that we as a species now pose to our environment.
Despite the dystopian themes that pervade these eight compositions, there are also expressions of great hope and optimism for a better world to be found within the subtext of the songs.
For an Ark as well as being a refuge from the world's harsher realities is also a vehicle for regeneration and renewal.
Ark is not really a concept album in the traditional sense of the term, but rather a series of sustained observations and commentaries on the human condition.
Like most of my previous work I had no preconceived notion of what the songs subject matter would be other than to follow my gut instinct, refining and distilling the music and my thoughts as they came to me.
One cannot underestimate the influence that living and working in relative isolation has had on the making of this album. A lot of my spare time is spent on the internet with friends or watching documentaries and current affairs programs.
It strikes me that one of the great paradoxes of modern living is that we often feel that we are connected and at the very centre of communications despite the fact that we are often both physically detached and remote from one another.
Unlike my previous album Eye of the Hunter, which makes extensive use of live guitars, bass and drums, practically all the instrumentation on Ark is derived from sample libraries and synthesizers.
This was a conscious creative decision on my part as I wanted to imbue the music with the ambience of a neutral electronic soundscape which would in turn mirror a world that is becoming increasingly more dependent upon machines to perform tasks for us.
With regard to the sample libraries themselves, I have made especial use of strings, horns and choir to complement the synthetic soundscapes and which in themselves form a kind of musical motif that underscores the compositions as a whole.
Ark is more reminiscent of the music I have written for Dead Can Dance than my previous solo work and contains two tracks, Babylon and Crescent, that were originally composed for the Dead Can Dance reunion tour of 2005.
The Bogus Man, This Boy and Babylon form a central trilogy within the album that explores themes of political corruption and the armed conflicts arising from both religious and neo-colonial exploitation to this present day.