We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Marzipan

by Bradfield Dumpleton

/
1.
2.
Dervish 03:10
3.
4.
Safety Pins 01:54
5.
6.
7.
8.
O Ya Mama 03:27
9.
10.
11.
Scimitar 03:46
12.
Redemption 02:59
13.
14.
15.
16.
Marzipan 03:54
17.
Luminessence 02:29
18.

about

From the original liner notes:

"Somewhere in the lefthand corner of the 16th century, under the Grand Hoopla of Abzurdistan's benevolent rule, a Low Renaissance flourished amongst the peasantfolk of Spondoolistan's nomadic villages. The Renaissance endured for almost a week and produced some of the country's most celebrated folk dances & music. For this collection, respected Spondoolologist Bradfield Dumpleton has traversed Spondoolistan to document the musical remnants of this rich aeon - music born of simple folk: their grief & revelation, celebration & mourning, their smouldering passions & deep belief that Love is a Many Tentacled Thing."

Witticisms aside, I consider this to be my most musically accomplished recording. These were mostly compositions recorded during a year in which I was "clinically depressed" & grieving profoundly. Through this music, living in isolation, I examined the devastation & intricate beauty of grief, its delicate revelations & dark humour. I'm not a formally trained musician, I rely entirely on sound & feel, so these compositions were really brain exercises for me, puzzles to solve, codes to crack, in response to my emotional chemistry.

In researching the biochemistry of my depression, I learned that making music activates the brain in more key areas than any other creative activity, and that I could use it to exercise my frontal lobe, a part of our brain that generally shuts down in states of depression.

By making music with instruments that were completely foreign to me (mandola, mandolin), I had to push my frontal lobe to concentrate, explore, problem solve, anticipate patterns, access previous knowledge & body memory. The instruments reminded me of lutes, Moorish moods, barogue and other musics that were deliberately challenging to explore, and equally fitting to my emotional expression at the time.

I knew that every time I sat down to play, I was going to discover something - and that I was navigating my own uniquely creative process through the depression.

credits

released June 6, 2007

Composed, performed & recorded during 2007 by Bradfield Dumpleton on acoustic guitar, mandolin, octave mandola, djembe, dundun, kpanlogo. Mixed & mastered by Geoff Francis, Huon Delta Studios, TAS.

More info: bradfielddumpleton.com/marzipan-2007/

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Bradfield Dumpleton TAS, Australia

A library of musical sketchbooks, mapping my various evolutions from 2005 to next week. Dedicated to exploring sound for its own sake. Many diverse delights here for the patient & attentive listener.

contact / help

Contact Bradfield Dumpleton

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like Bradfield Dumpleton, you may also like: