Handing over the mic to artists/musicians who break down their new albums track by track/share the thought process behind the creation. Today we’ll hear from Karen Vogt, Karen Vogt is an Australian artist, vocalist and musician living in France. Her latest album is Little Pink Fluffy Clouds B, second part of LPFC series.
In 2020 she recorded 22 live improvisation sessions for her radio show called “Little Pink Fluffy Clouds”. In this second album she has assembled a selection of the softer, lullaby style improvisations and includes three instrumentals. Guitar was the main instrument used and Vogt switches between acoustic, electric and bass but with looped and layered vocals still being a feature of these improvised works.
This whole album is improvised. No rehearsing, no chance to go back and re-record. I press record and just let myself be in that space where words fall out, are half-formed and unsteadily sung as I am reaching for some meaning. This opening track is two looped guitar chords played gently while I loop and improvise vocals over the top. Looping is a huge part of my improvisation process and I loop vocals and guitar to create atmosphere. The first note sung is cracked, off and comes out wobbly, but this is part of how I do improvisation. It can feel a bit fragile, but the point is to step beyond that and keep going. Don’t let it put you off or you’ll miss out on some beautiful moments.
I love sighs and sounds that express emotion without needing words. I built the layers of this track up slowly and stayed with my fascination of the first sorrowful kind of howl/sigh sound I made. Then I found words that described it, of being “caught between the sorrow and the space”. Sometimes you just need to let yourself follow what fascinates you without having to make sense of it.
It started with a little plucked melody on the guitar and then I just sang over the top. I feel like I could have continued, but stopped and went somewhere else after being distracted. This is the kind of improvised piece I could have developed further, but I like the way it comes in quickly and then leaves. Feels like a pretty little insect that comes through a gap in the window, buzzes about and then leaves just as quickly as it arrived.
The sound of a cats purr is so soothing and comforting to me. The incoming purr of my cat lands on the microphone as he moves closer and I capture it and loop it on a Roland Sp404. I adding bass and reverb to let it warm up the track and contrast with the crackle and buzz of the unearthed electric guitar. Vocals drift in and out and at one moment they kick in and the pace quickens as I layer and make micro loops to sound like a synthesizer sound with the track finally landing in a more ambient place.
This electric guitar improvisation was mostly looped volume swells that I started with and then introduced some looped vocals to softly float over the top. I remember the words “half-light” came to me and I enjoyed repeating this. I actually had titles prepared for all of these tracks, but numbering them as clouds just felt right to me.
This instrumental is a layer of looped vocals that sounds like a synth or a record stuck on the tail end/fade out of the last few seconds of a song. I then just simply noodled a simple melody over the top of it on the electric guitar.
I love the different sounds of sighing and ooh’s and aah’s. The sounds we make before we form words is so interesting. It always fascinates me how we hear these sounds so differently. Some of us tend to divide it into happy/sad. But there is so much nuanced and complex information to receive if we just listen closely.
It’s a nice feeling to sing high and it can feel a bit like you are flying through the air as you feel your voice going higher and lifting up. Sometimes wobbling, sometimes gliding, falling, climbing. Moving the voice into those higher ranges can give you the impression that you are floating and have lifted yourself up into the clouds on a windy day. Like a wind instrument or a flute that you can hear the air moving in and out of. I started with a simple three chord loop and then just cycled over the top. You can gain momentum just by letting things naturally build up until it feels like you are moving towards something. I bought in some vocal loops to the main loop and had the words “we are all part of this” coming through. I remember feeling those words as humans being connected and part of one organism. I then decided to take the guitar out and have the vocal loop going. This is a trick I do sometimes that often has nice results. I start wth a foundation to get things started and then just remove the framework to reveal something unexpected and unique.
Another piece that started on the electric guitar. Delays give a reflective kind of vibe and tends to make me dive deep into memory/emotions. I can hear my voice searching for something and it eventually just vanishes and slips away. I like capturing those moments when something comes into focus and then leaves.
The original recording of this improvisation was kind of epic and so I had to edit it down and quicked the transitions. “When will the light dissolve” were the main words. Questions and ambiguity is a big part of my lyric writing style and gives me lots of space to move about in. Words needs to feel open and like they have secret pathways when you put them all together that the listener can wander through.
This is an instrumental piece that feels very gentle and I could easily have had this playing for hours. The vocals are used as an instrument. The vocal layers in this track are really nice to make and create synth-like layers. This track was an offshoot from the first track (cloud fourteen) that I deliberately placed at the end of the album. I wanted the album to circle back around if you played it on a loop.
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