Compelling synth textures collide with anthemic compositions on the high seas and keelhaul each other for great justice!
Azimuth of Arcturus is an attempt to thoughtfully explore rock and pop arrangements with equally creative synth textures. Melodies abound in interlocking lines, all toward the goal of sailing on an adventurous no-filler musical journey. While all these tracks are instrumentals, they're produced with a solid respect for time-tested song forms with memorable hooks and timbres.
Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok/Resso, Google Play/YouTube, Amazon, Soundtrack by Twitch, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, iHeartRadio, ClaroMusica, Saavn, Anghami, KKBox, NetEase (beta), Tencent (beta), Triller (beta), MediaNet
Caricature by Luke Skirenko
During the quarantine isolation of the year 2020, a strong motivation to compose a synth-based album of melodic instrumentals surfaced within me. The fruit of my labor, Azimuth of Arcturus, is orchestrated using only synthesizers, samples and virtual drum machines. This commonplace studio approach proved to be a liberating direction which lured me away from the idiomatic traps I'd fallen into as a guitarist. I abandoned my hands, for the most part, and instead relied on my mind.
There's an undercurrent of 80s revivalism in a few of these pieces but it all comes from a desire to serve up a cohesive collection of tunes that represent a deep love of Electronica, particularly Synthwave, but so much more. I plan to release additional material as The Ghost Mariners rather than under my own name to help differentiate expectations between this new direction and previously published works. Plus, for future releases I'd like to collaborate with a few other composers, so a band name seems to fit the seascape ahead.
My first album, Jellyfish Emperor, was released in 2002 on the label, Space for Music—it's a nearly 34 minute seamless piece that creatively explores timbre, gentleness and unease with bursts of percussive punctuation along the way. In subsequent years, I composed three independently released albums: Chemical Wedding, Lepidoptera, and Dream Harvester. These older albums all fall under the rubric of Dark Ambient on one level or another, though not strictly so—they're certainly not realized as traditional tonal music and are more influenced by obscure academic electronic music from the mid-20th century. You can find them for preview and purchase on Bandcamp, though my debut album is currently out of circulation.
I've also got an EP called Mythos which is comprised of short exotically-tinged percussion compositions. Each piece is named after a mythical creature. You can stream these for free at Soundcloud.
*******
Special Thanks to Luke Skirenko for crucial early critiques, helpful advice and artistic support.
© 2021 Shane Sanders. All Rights Reserved.
HTML Maker