alan hawkshaw – Moons And Melodies

The local Target used to have these panels where you clicked album art images to preview their CD. 10-year-old me went for the pretty-looking ‘landscape’ photos every time, which led to something called Beethoven’s Moonlight…

So this downbeat piano faded in and hypnotized me. It had such a unique mood: teetering in and out of a shadowy dirge, relaxed but deep in thought. Like night-time, it’s shrouded in mystery but not inherently ‘evil’. Moonlight is antique mansion music, something a ghost pianist would play as everyone sleeps. Or maybe it’s a balcony’s view of the night sky. Somehow this movement suggests so much in a simple waltz rhythm.

Following my obsession for the melodic piano pieces in ‘creepier’ Nancy Drew games, this was the next root of my interest in gothic music (what with my blog having ‘Moons’ in the name). Playing the CD often, I thought I’d be a ‘classical person’. As you might guess, I was quick to change course, but I regain that curiosity now and then. I just wish I knew more pieces like this one.

Years later I’d find a great synth version by cult library/TV composer Alan Hawkshaw.

library music / progressive electronic

More like this – Curios From The Background Vol. 1, Alan Shearer’s “Isis For Osiris”, early Oneohtrix, Geoff Bastow’s Tomorrow’s World

While there’s some issues with consistency and a few too many reprises, this library oddity is definitely worth hearing if you’re interested in eighties analog synth music. I’ve wondered if this was one of the Bruton albums to influence Oneohtrix Point Never as it’s one of their closest in style (OPN referenced their cover art with Drawn And Quartered). Like his early albums, the synths of Kinetics/Vision are cold and warm all at once, forming lots of foggy/metallic arpeggios and a feeling of futuristic isolation.

Side 1 (Kinetics) begins on a cheerful note, with busy and scientific rhythms recalling a tech facility. The first six or seven tracks largely repeat the same melodies, all variations on the same tune. It gets redundant after a certain point, but later highlights like “Kinetic Strength” and “Kinetic Research” add welcome twists to this theme via thrilling slow-burn suspense and a complete mood shift before Bastow’s side ends. Here I picture a protagonist investigating the same facility late at night as they unveil it’s dark secrets.

The renowned Alan Hawkshaw’s B-side adds more variation and a deeper dive into “Kinetic Strength”’s shadowy sci-fi. With the intimidating “Vision 1″, I imagine a dystopian-ish eighties film scenario where they’ve locked up a building after a crime, leaving everyone on edge. “Crystal Vision” is the prettiest moment on the album with the sort of aquatic synth-bell gleam that became popular years beyond 1980. “Visionary” is all weightless and empty hums: non-threatening, but the paranoia lingers. In stark opposition to how the album began, “Dark Vision” ends it all with sinister droning.

If you’re curious to hear more from Bruton Music’s analog synth phase, I highly recommend this 22-minute compilation.

Tag: alan hawkshaw

Songs that got me into music: Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, 1st movement

Alan Hawkshaw & Trevor Bastow – Kinetics/Vision, 1980 (Bruton)

♥︎ – “Kinetic Strength”, “Kinetic Research”, “Crystal Vision”, “Vision 1″, “Visionary”