I came across one note that said "check out the music of Paddy McAloon, especially the album I Trawl the Megahertz"... It was an album Thomas Dolby was mentioning towards the final pages of the book that had burst him into tears when he first listened to the demo tape sent by McAloon himself.
I knew Paddy McAloon from the great English band Prefab Sprout. He was the founder and the leading member of the band that I enjoyed listening to very much during the 1980s. However I never knew that he had recorded such an album. Unfortunately this recording is not available in the platforms such as Spotify, Tidal or Apple Music. You either have to find it as a new CD (I believe it is not easy) or order a second hand CD from Discogs etc...
Luckily there are many videos on youtube for you to check out the album.
I Trawl The Megahertz:
As I mentioned, the album is a work of Paddy McAloon that's been recorded between 1999-2002 and released in 2003. It is an amazing work with an amazing story. The music was created by McAloon right after he had become almost blind due to detached retinas, a condition he still suffers from.
The album is largely instrumental and heavily orchestrated. The words that have been used on certain songs come from McAloon's housebound days (due to his illness) where he was spending most of his time listening and recording to chat shows, phone-ins and such programs on shortwave radio. He later used these snippets and conversations in the album in a creative way.
McAloon who had been trained to become a Catholic priest, had deep interest in classical music, especially Ravel's and Debussy's music. He used motifs from his favorite composers in order to create a sound that is significantly different than Prefab Sprout that in my opinion shows his musical genius.
He has composed the whole album on a computer via MIDI tracks, backed up by David McGuinness with the arrangements and Mr McFall's Chamber Ensemble's orchestration. In the first song, we hear Yvonne Connors with spoken word vocals. It is a powerful piece lasting around 22 minutes.
"I Trawl the Megahertz"
The music in the overall album makes you recall the old times not necessarily filled with pleasant memories and has a magic to take the listener on a personal journey to his/her past.
The album also shows what a real musician can achieve in highly challenging conditions even during his struggle with important health issues. In my opinion, McAloon has managed to turn this unfortunate event to a music of rare poignant beauty.
"I am 49"
You can also listen below to an interview with him about this album.
No comments:
Post a Comment