La Peru

Peruvian instrumental with charango and cajón. Stringed, guitar-like charango plays a melancholy melodic hook, while a second charango provides intricate accompaniment. Gentle percussion from cajón gives a subtle rhythmic flavour while supporting the melody. Emotional, passionate yet quiet and restrained, reminiscent of Manu Chao, full of romantic anticipation to suit a sizzling onscreen lovers’ dance or for a travel documentary or advert with a Latin influence.

      La_Peru-JPM_version

Cumbus Long Neck

Improvisation on Turkish cumbus, stringed, oud-like instrument. Free-form improviation with runs, ornamentation, repetition and silent pauses, growing slightly faster and more intricate towards the end. Mysterious, intimate and sparse, Turkish and Middle Eastern sounds perfect for a documentary about the region or to accompany a vast, deserted landscape onscreen.

      Cumbus_Long_Neck-JPM

Lyre

Moody lyre instrumental. Sparse improvisatory melody, sounding like a cross between harp and acoustic guitar. Beguiling, melancholy and ancient, a mysterious, questioning, atmospheric soundtrack to strange, anticipatory Film/TV scenes or documentaries about ancient civilisations.

      Lyre-JPM_version

Roots (Suite)

Acoustic guitar and piano track with experimental elements. Gentle acoustic guitar punctuated with electronic noise and water sounds. Joined by warm piano and hints of playfully subtle saxophone, minor chords growing in intensity and turning to major for a hopeful finish. Mysterious, cheeky and subversive, brings to mind a magical woodland scene of trees going walkies while your back is turned. Perfect for TV/Film/Docs, pastoral settings and subtly powerful storytelling.

Bed version is more intimate, featuring more raw, sparse acoustic guitar, brings out the scratchy, barely-there violin and teasing background noise.

      Roots-JPM_version
      Roots_Bed-JPM_version
      Roots_Extended-JPM_version

Loutar

Improvisation on loutar, an oud-like stringed instrument. Sparse improvised phrases growing to more melodic parts. Hypnotic, melancholy and raw, like the soundtrack to a western movie at first before taking on a North African feel when the melodic sections kick in. Perfect documentary soundtrack.

      Loutar-JPM_version

Girift

Acoustic instrumental on cretan lyra and Turkish saz. Medium-paces introductory phrases, building in texture, complexity and speed, with a central melodic idea emerging. Bowed fiddle-like instrument joins with an earthy modal melodic passage, along with light, sparse percussion. Dynamic, mysterious and hypnotic, a cyclical effect of returning to the beginning, suitable for video work focused on the Middle East or Mediterranean, or a film/drama wanting an authentic, raw acoustic sound or an Arabic feel.

      Girift-JPM

Drakish

Sombre acoustic guitar and piano track. Percussion, moody repetitive acoustic guitar and piano, dark sustained strings, tense choppy strings. The mood lightens, expanded acoustic guitar and pretty piano. Dark, sombre, quiet, worried a relaxed finish, would suit a tense TV/Film moment of uncertainty and fear before a slight hint of resolution.

      Drakish-JPM

Piano and Cello

Sombre piano and cello track with subtle sound effects. Crackling record player static and cello sound effects underlie minor piano arpeggios and sustained, emotive cello. Thoughtful, melancholy and yearning, imagine a desolate TV/Film sequence set on a grey, rainy street in a European city in the aftermath of a devastating event.

      Piano_and_Cello-JPM

10,000 Steps

Jittery acoustic track. Percussive intro with delay effects on acoustic guitar and synth effects. Building anticipation, repetitive electric guitar and dynamic percussion. Guitar starts to move to a darker place, creating a sombre mood. Guitar noodles over ann atmospheric drone and clattering percussion, the shifting chords altering the mood, ending on spacey sound effects. Dreamy, dynamic and strange, suitable for a tense TV scene, inner turmoil, a noisy internal monologue, a decision to be made.

      10000_Steps-JPM

How’s God? She’s Black

The title is taken from this piece of graffiti on the Berlin Wall. Piano and classic guitar led, with gamelan, and a string section. Tender, hopeful and positive with hypnotic piano riffs revolving in the background. A pause leads to a frenetic middle section which bursts into a sudden epic string section, similarly disappearing to leave a tender vulnerable ending. Nods to Steve Reich, The Penguin Cafe Orchestra and The Books.

      Hows_God-Shes_Black_Master-JPM