Hello Our Basement,

My newest single, “Modular Winter,” began as an experiment with different approaches to composing. The idea was to have a set of short, repeating patterns that could be arranged in any order and go on for any length of time. I then wrote free-flowing melodies to play on top, following the instructions – enter whenever you feel. Initially, I had about five or six patterns, but whittled it down to my three favourites and settled on a more permanent arrangement for the song.

I wrote the first half of the track about a year after the second half while I was at the Banff Centre, preparing to record Music for Staying Warm, my debut LP. There’s a graveyard that you pass anytime you go from the Centre into downtown Banff. One day, I noticed a man visiting a tombstone with his kid holding a balloon and frollicking around. Feeling struck by that juxtaposition, I rushed back to my studio to write down the patterns that you hear in “Modular Winter.”

Music for Staying Warm is out now on First Terrace Records with a limited run of vinyl – order here
Justin Wright