I'm excited to announce my new recording project! Plans are planned and I'm ready to go! Not that there's not a lot of work remaining to be done with ...

I'm excited to announce my new recording project! Plans are planned and I'm ready to go! Not that there's not a lot of work remaining to be done with One Feather Shy, but that bird has left the nest and flown off into the world. Thanks once again to everyone who has bought the CD or download, your support is not only much appreciated, it allows me to continue sharing my music. And über thanks to everyone who has dropped me a line via email, one of my social outposts, or surveys; your kind words for my work are inspirational and fuel for the work that is ahead of me.

And speaking of the work that is ahead of me, the album is titled Breathe. Recording is set to begin in mid-January. I won't speculate a release date yet, but I'm shooting for late 2009. So, you might query, what's this Breathe all about? Well, a wiser man than I once said "Talking About Music Is Like Whistling About Chickens" but I'll give it a shot.

Breathe will be an album of "genre-indifferent instrumental guitar music" created with acoustic, electric, baritone electric, fretless electric, lap steel, baritone lap steel, touch and synthesizer guitars. It will be tonally diverse and cover much stylistic ground.  The music will generally be less dense than One Feather Shy, more open and sparse with room for  each instrument to Breathe and relatively fewer voices in each piece. The overall design concept is equality between foreground and background, yet there will be moments of dense orchestration, yes there will, as I am wired to make it so upon occasion. Those moments, however, will stand out as exceptions to the more open sonic experience of the album. Shadows and Light, if you will.

Another critically important design concept is the juxtaposition of natural and classic guitar tones with ones which have been manipulated, filtered, and mangled. This is a fascinating area of discovery and exploration for me and will serve as a key creative element for the project. I'll manipulate sounds with tools and techniques during the performance, effects "on the way in", plug-ins after the fact, and outboard gear. Texture and tone will be the North Star to guide me through copious amounts of filters, backwards guitar, synced and un-synced delays, loops, eBow, harmonic capo, and more.

The recording will once again take place in the friendly confines of Make Noise Studios. As was the case with One Feather Shy the project is largely a solo effort but I shan't hesitate to reach out for a contribution from others, as appropriate. I'm very excited that Robert Jürjendal has provided a brilliant loop for Breathe! Robert is one of the most innovative guitarists at work today and it is an honor to have his participation on the project.

So, there's a quick fly-by of Breathe. As is my norm, I'll blog about the creative process each step of the way, beginning with this post and continuing until this album leaves the nest and flies off into the world, too. It is my aim to make the documenting of the project an interactive affair and I invite you to participate in two different ways:

1) I've described "Breathe" in terms of "open", "sparse", and "foreground equals background." Other words that come to my mind include "wintery", "frost", "ethereal" and "shades of grey."  I'm not sure why, they just do. For those of you with mad visual skills, I'd love to see your photos or sketches of the imagery that these words suggest to you. Unless you direct me differently, I'll share your submissions on this blog for others to see, with appropriate credit provided, of course.

2) I've described the critical design element of "the juxtaposition of natural and classic guitar tones with ones which have been manipulated, filtered, and mangled." Are you one who manipulates, filters, or mangles tones? I'd love to hear about your favorite approaches for doing so. What tools, techniques, effects, plug-ins, or outboard gear are you using? Do you have an example in mp3 format to share? Again, unless you tell me not to, I'll share your thoughts and mp3 links on this blog, as well, with appropriate credit for your submission.

And, of course, I'd love your comments on any of the blog posts along the way. In any case, you can comment directly on the blog at www.lorenclaypool.com reach me through any of my social network outposts, or drop me an email with your submissions. Do be sure to let me know if it's okay to share or if your contribution is just for me. I hope you'll share!

If you haven't done so, be sure to stop by my contact page and sign up for my e-newsletter. In addition to this blog and my tweets, I'll be documenting the project there, as well. Hey, speaking of tweets, are we connected on Twitter? How about MySpace, Facebook, iLike, or Flickr? Let's do that friend and follow thing, what do you say?

Well, here we go again. Wish me luck, shoot me your thoughts on the project, and let's make another dream a reality. Thanks for sending your energy my way and have an awesome 2009!