Night Vibes

What a delight to welcome Ben Clark again, four years after the release of Marimbas. Since then, Ben had finished writing and touring with his band Zooni, and decided to take a hiatus from music. So when I contacted him to work on a new musical project for myNoise, it felt like his first love - music - had come back to him after a long absence, and he immediately agreed.

This time, we are featuring the vibraphone, which is sort of like a marimba but with metal plates instead of wood. The vibraphone features a rotary motor that adds vibrato to the sound, hence its name. Ben's old vintage vibraphone did not have a working motor. Now, a vibraphone without vibrato, is like a body without a soul. We needed a fix. This is how Ben's girlfriend came into action, quiety driving the motor by hand while Ben was playing. Thank you, Annie, for giving the vibraphone... a human soul!

This soundscape took a long time to complete, because of Ben's busy agenda but also because the vibraphone - a big instrument - was stored in a garage with a lot of interfering outside noise. He had recently moved house and didn't have a studio set up, therefore, the recordings were made late at night, when the town fell asleep and all was quiet. When I received the recordings, it took some time for me to turn them into a soundscape as well. Half a year of patience led to this work, and naturally inspired the title of this soundscape, Slow Vibes.

The vibraphone is a wonderful instrument. Played like Ben did, with mallets but also with a bow, it is like a bath for your ears into a world of pure tones. If you're looking for a percussionist with a real talent and passion, I warmly recommend Ben Clark. You can contact him at his gmail address: benclarkdrummer01

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