In Balance

Spirit Lights

'In Balance' is a meditative album of blissful synthesiser drones and textures. Arranged in 2024 after the completion of 'Spirit Lights', the album serves as its companion piece. 3 of the 5 songs feature re-works of material from the aforementioned album, either as re-arrangements of stems or re-recordings using a shoegaze-like modular synth and pedal chain. This is demonstrated in the second part of ‘Presence / Glimmers’ as the sequence from ‘Darko’ is programmed to a major key and droned out, creating angelic layers of sound that swell and weave together. Sublime closer ‘Lovestars / Eyes Closed’ employs this same treatment, beginning with a bubbling modular collage before finishing with a kaleidoscopic wash of analogue synth tones.

Most of this album came about by chance. I was scheduled to play a soundbath gig with an interactive lighting display and space for the audience to be lying down for an hour. To meet the task I challenged myself to re-write some of my music to create a calm and hopeful space. The gig never came to be but I recorded a lot of material using a strange setup of synths into pedals and modular. I then arranged the recordings in a different way to my other work, automating the volumes and panning from left to right in long patterns of multiples of 5, 6 and 7 bars. This was to create a lot of gentle movement and something immersive the listener can get lost in.

Experimenting with form and formlessness, ‘Life in Every Breath’ is an entrancing meditation on gratitude and is thematically linked to Japanese Bushido ideology. An ode to finding stillness, the dream-like centrepiece ‘Waves (Within)’ is one of Joshua's oldest modular recordings, comprising warbles and drones from five years ago. Originally released on 4000 Records’ 'Solidarity Soundwaves' aid fundraiser, the soothing ‘Yield’ is tied to Taoist concepts of non-violence and acceptance. 

'In Balance' is a meditative album of blissful synthesiser drones and textures. Arranged in 2024 after the completion of 'Spirit Lights', the album serves as its companion piece. 3 of the 5 songs feature re-works of material from the aforementioned album, either as re-arrangements of stems or re-recordings using a shoegaze-like modular synth and pedal chain. This is demonstrated in the second part of ‘Presence / Glimmers’ as the sequence from ‘Darko’ is programmed to a major key and droned out, creating angelic layers of sound that swell and weave together. Sublime closer ‘Lovestars / Eyes Closed’ employs this same treatment, beginning with a bubbling modular collage before finishing with a kaleidoscopic wash of analogue synth tones.
Most of this album came about by chance. I was scheduled to play a soundbath gig with an interactive lighting display and space for the audience to be lying down for an hour. To meet the task I challenged myself to re-write some of my music to create a calm and hopeful space. The gig never came to be but I recorded a lot of material using a strange setup of synths into pedals and modular. I then arranged the recordings in a different way to my other work, automating the volumes and panning from left to right in long patterns of multiples of 5, 6 and 7 bars. This was to create a lot of gentle movement and something immersive the listener can get lost in.
Experimenting with form and formlessness, ‘Life in Every Breath’ is an entrancing meditation on gratitude and is thematically linked to Japanese Bushido ideology. An ode to finding stillness, the dream-like centrepiece ‘Waves (Within)’ is one of Joshua's oldest modular recordings, comprising warbles and drones from five years ago. Originally released on 4000 Records’ 'Solidarity Soundwaves' aid fundraiser, the soothing ‘Yield’ is tied to Taoist concepts of non-violence and acceptance.

Presence / Glimmers (Original Mix)