Ben Hjertmann
Music Composition, Teaching, Recording, Instrument Building
mashup (2019)
This is an album of songs that dive deep into the mashup of life's songs.
It's not a literal mashup, but instead an original exploration of harmonic relationships and studio-orchestration.
It was released under my band Kong Must Dead in August of 2019 (Two Labyrinths Records).
I wrote, performed, and recorded all the parts except for the gracious and gutsy help of bandmates:
Jonathon Sale (drums, steel pan, bass)
R.J. Wuagneux (guitar)
Brady Kennedy (bass)
Ingrid Forsyth (keyboard).
One song has a whole on the downbeat of the chorus and modulates down a half-step in the middle of the chorus. Another song has a single repeating section which is constantly varied. One is sped up slightly and re-recorded to warp its POV. And one warps from prog-soul into panicked punk through the neon lights of youth. There are floating parallel fourths against contrary planed ninths. Layers of pedal steel and feedback color-in the chords, and in the end a deer outside lets out a guttural yawp. And life keeps mashing-up...
The art for the record is also my original work, layering magazine clippings and transparencies of paintings from my former studio wall on top of a strange album cover by some well-known European composers.