A few goings-on in the world of Bizarre Statue in this September, 2026:
1. Most importantly, there’s a new bit of the ongoing work-in-progress, called “Roughing It.” A part of me thinks it took a while to get to a point where I had a sense of it, but then I realize that outside of a couple very productive summer vacations in college, I’ve never really made a lot of music I’d want to let out into the world. In any event, there’s a slow process I have of getting to know a piece as it’s happening, but nearly always with patience it comes together.
I realize I haven’t written much about the work-in-progress, and that’s because I am not at all sure how it will come together or what it will be. After some dithering, I’ve continued to work on Bitwig, which operates with loops similar to Ableton, and which is still a new process to me. For the moment, what’s of interest is that rather than build up to a final mix, at least for the moment I build up (and very often tear down) various loops until I get a take, rather than a mix. I feel like the process is semi-spontaneous, which isn’t bad. On “Roughing It,” the primary electric guitar and then later the fake Mellotron flute were both done live, and the timing of shifts between sections is done live as well. I’ve figured out some randomization that works well for me, so for several bits rather than have a single repeating loop, the thing randomly bounces between different loops that fit into the same musical slot, so to speak.
My musical ideal is a jazz combo, where real spontaneity is possible. I feel like what I’m getting with this software is variety rather than spontaneity, but it’s really pretty good, and a big shift from working with tape or some kind of software modeled on tape. I’ll see where this goes, but the thought is to take the individual bits and put them in one big file, call it a “set,” and then go from there.
2. I’ve said it before, but the last project, “Two Songs About Fire,” which I guess is still the next project, is definitely done, and it’s found a home on a label. It should come out in 2027, which is great. The music isn’t going to get old, and I suppose good things come to those who wait. I listened to it again a few weeks ago, and it holds up nicely. I imagine I could say a lot about it but the point is that it’s good, I think you’ll like it, and there’s lots of other great music in the world you can enjoy until it comes out.
3. It’s not especially important but if anyone noticed, I’m more or less completely inactive on social media at this point. Probably when “Two Songs About Fire” comes out I’ll post a bit more then, but if anyone wants to be in touch, use the contact form. I’ll respond, I promise!