Conrad - 4 Longing for the River [Riverside Quest Album]
Channel: Conrad
Date: 13/01/2022

From the Riverside Quest Album
Link to full album: https://youtu.be/9By6b9Sdw2U

Join the journey of the Knight as he goes on his Riverside Quest to rescue a princess. But, rescuing the princess from the Dragon in the castle in the dark mountains is merely the beginning of the struggle. Both his physicality and mentality are put to the test, and slowly it dawns on him that a very fundamental question is being asked of him: Stay loyal to what you are supposed to be, or to what you want to be?

This song is unique in the way that it is one big jam on a summer’s evening in my old attic room at my parents' place. I played a new drum beat I had from a package, and played the Volca FM synth over it in one large take of just an arpeggio of Am G F Em. I jammed the bass another time, this time in two takes – the fast arp in the beginning and the slow arp after about 1 minute. I added a few string layers, and some extra arps with slightly different sounds for that nice layering, and some horn-like chords in the end. Even though the chords don’t change at all, the song feels quite dynamic because of the fading of the instruments and the change in their expression. One of my favourites, also because of the dynamic way it was made.

I wrote this album over the course of three-and-a-half years, working on it in periods in between my Pocket Operator albums. I think this album nicely shows my musical progression and maturation, also with respect to workflow and mixing.


Music and artwork by Conrad