BANDCAMP:

https://jamiephilpinjones.bandcamp.com/album/dronejournal-february

AMPWALL:

https://ampwall.com/a/jamiephilpinjones/album/dronejournal-february

I started this monthly mixtape project to work through some stuff, both in a personal and artistic sense. While driving myself needlessly crazy working on a couple of Proper Album projects I decided I needed to take myself on a little journey. It makes sense then that the starting point is a place I want to leave. It is, from a process standpoint, a collection of bad habits. The three main tracks here are kitchen sink affairs, drones made by throwing this into a big ol’ sonic blender and spending hours trying to pick out the bits I don’t like. It’s meant to be more of a fast and loose way of working but has begun with me fighting with mixes and stressing myself out until the 11th hour. I seem to start with something I really like and add so much the original idea becomes obscured. And then remove so much I’m not sure what I have left. I swing that pendulum back and forth until I end up with something different entirely. I plan to strip back and refine this process until I have something more efficient and that doesn’t cause me to fall out of love with the concept of recorded sound on a sometimes daily basis.

The download on BS/AW comes with a booklet of liner notes if you want details on the tracks. There’s 3 main ones woven in with a few field recordings and a couple of simple interstitial pieces I’ve come to love more than the main 3, purely because they caused no headaches. I don’t want these journals to be filled with nothing but sob stories but they’re meant to help me work through some difficult times as I deal with my father’s debilitating illness, deteriorating state and the ramifications of that. I was going to start the series in January only for it to be delayed due to a ride in an ambulance and a stay in hospital. The February edition was due to launch at the end of that month but was delayed due to the same thing happening in almost identical circumstances, with the added bonus of a car breakdown meaning all my gear was left 200 miles away. Consistency has never been a strong point of mine but it’s particularly tough to attain for the moment.

These tracks document these turbulent times. The demos have accompanied me on train journeys up and down the country, soundtracked moments of quiet contemplation stood in a near holy state of tiredness in car parks in the dead of night, gone up and down hospital lifts and round and round the yard at my parents’ bungalow in Barnsley. They’ve played back in my mind while I sit watching hospital monitors bleep away to themselves. Now they’re out in the world and the next lot take their place. 

This is how I try to make sense and/or peace with it all. This, therapy and the occasional 3am drunken battle with the abyss.

I hope whoever decides to take a punt on a 43 minute continuous track of DIY drones finds something to like in there. And will consider riding along for at least part of the journey.