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Parasomnia

by Matthew White

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1.
Somnambulism 07:18
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2.
Somniloquy 05:04
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3.
Catathrenia 06:18
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4.
Hypersomnia 05:30
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5.
Pavor Nocturnus 04:20
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6.
Weighted (by Shadow People) 06:15
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about

Parasomnia
I've always had some odd sleeping patterns and experienced sleep talking, breath holding, sleep walking, sleep paralysis etc
Reading up on it, I stumbled down this rabbit hole and was hooked.
Hours passed as I was reading studies and papers on various parasomnia and in particular some of the folklore surrounding it....especially with sleep paralysis and "Old Hag"/"Shadow People" syndrome.
I decided to pick a few out and use them as an inspiration to piece together some kind of musical description for them.


1 - Somnambulism
Sleep Walking
This started from the middle and developed out, initially creating the root/10th line and building up the chords and pedal tones.
After playing around with various melody ideas, I stumbled on this descending line, beginning on the 7th initially to stretch out the chord. The harmonies all fell nicely into place being taken from the chordal tones and occasionally taking a different pattern to the normal descending top melody.
I felt like I was trying to create almost a dream sequence here to match how I felt moving around whilst asleep looks like.
I also recently caught my son "Sleep Dancing" in his room, just swaying about and muttering to himself. Once I'd finished laughing, I noticed how peaceful and relaxed he looked in his dreamworld.


2 - Somniloquy
Sleep Talking
I wanted to really focus on the tones and layer on this, keeping the language simple. I've known a few people who sleepwalk and the conversations rarely used extended vocabulary and there's often again, almost a sense of relief to what I've witnessed.
The main riff started first after a long session I'd been doing and I stumbled on it and kept repeating it, partly as a warm down but mainly because I didn't want to forget it.
Once it was home and in the looper, I started building the bass and chords and liked how I was moving between the minor and relative major.


3 - Catathrenia
Breath Holding
This is something I've done for years......often accompanied by a groan when I eventually exhale. Apparently it's quite unnerving.
I wanted to try and use space in this composition to reflect the space between breaths, deliberately holding back on the melody and keeping everything simple to allow the song to develop.
I felt the reverse delay effects I was using gave an almost "Breathy" nature to the song as well.


4 - Hypersomnia
Over tired - the after effect from any of the mentioned phenomena.
The impact of being asleep for an appropriate length of time but not actually getting enough sleep because your body isn't necessarily resting how it should.
I wanted to include this in the middle of the record as the final two tracks happen to me when I'm at my most tired.
I wanted to try and capture the sense of confusion by using conflicting groupings against the overall time signature.
I like how each layer has it's own groove and when there's only a couple, there's almost an unease to them but when they're all playing together, they balance each other out.


5 - Pavor Nocturnus
Night Terrors
I found myself reading up on the difference between nightmares and night terrors and was captured by the sense that you don't wake up from a night terror, and if you're woken, it takes time to fully wake.
This is often why it's so difficult to settle someone who's having a night terror as they often won't recognise you when they "Wake" and are still consumed by a sense of fear.
I wanted to try and capture that sense with lead line until the melody takes over focus.....only to return later on.


6 - Weighted (by Shadow People)
Sleep Paralysis
One of the least pleasant experiences I get to experience on a semi regular basis....however the folklore around it is fascinating.
An old hag sat on your chest, shadows holding you down......the list is a long one from around the world.
I wanted to capture some of the unease and discomfort, particularly in the percussive line and then the countermelody clashing with the melody again. Sampling this countermelody into it's own loop gives the track an eerie nature to it and hopefully conveys the image of waking up but your body still being asleep.....add in the common hallucinations of the witch sat on your chest or shadow figures holding you down and you can see where I was aiming at.

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released January 1, 2021

Matthew White - Bass Guitar

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Matthew White Glastonbury, UK

Proudly associated with Bartolini Pickups (www.bartolini.net) and Pitbull Strings (www.pitbullstrings.co.uk)

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