Pop Pointillism-Paul McClelland (winter 2010)

It is my understanding that Pointillism, in the art world, is defined as a series of colored dots arranged in such a way, that when one stands back from the individual dots, a complete picture appears. The title "Pop Pointillism" came to me during the recording of this collection of tunes, because it was recorded in quite that way..dozens of sections of music, each recorded individually, with their own color and shading, and once the editing within each song is done, and one stands back, notices that out of many sections comes a complete song.

In most sections of a song, the edits are seamless, thanks to today's advanced aural technology. In other places, the edits are obvious. (intentionally so). you won't be able to count them all, but there are many.

Susan: "Did you mean to put all of those bells and all of the chiming effects in these songs?"

Paul: "Yes"

Every sound is an intentional effect. Chiming effects, bells, harpsichord, music boxes, glockenspiel, and a new-found love for cello and timpani. This is a keyboard-based effort, and my first in so many many years. The only stringed instruments are the bass guitar throughout the collection and the ukelele on 2 songs ("Oh, Jenny" and "Little Note Lullaby") Everything else is a sound texture coming from the Roland keyboard or the Roland and Korg modules.

This "modular" way of recording music was popularized and mastered by Brian Wilson in the mid-60's, and once again brought to my attention over the past couple of years by the UK's Stephen Newcombe, who has taken this approach to mixing and arranging music and expanded on it with amazing results. I would like to thank Stephen , pop magician that he is, for his continued inspiration.

01. You Come to Me

02. I Feel Love

03. Oh, Jenny

04. It's a Very Sad Heart

05. Would You Like to Go to the Circus, Anna

06. Little Note Lullaby

07. Missing You

08. Empty Is

09. I Think I've Been Had

10. We Do Miss You

11. It Makes Me Sore

All songs written and performed by P. McC in the upstairs home studio on a Tascam 8-track digital workstation.