Doubledog-55

The song 'An Ordinary Swiss' is a spotlight on a freudian slip by one of the presidential candidates who stated that his was nothing more than “an ordinary Swiss bank account.” The statement exposes a frame of reference that is so alien to most people as to be an oxymoron. Conventional wisdom suggests a Swiss bank account is used by the non-Swiss for the express purpose of hiding money and avoiding taxes. So, the song, my attempt, is an artistic statement in sound that alludes to that mind-set, probing the context that is capable of such a statement. There is much that is not clearly defined, almost atonal, but there is a theme, some relation to 'G minor' and a suggestion: "erster Klasse oder zweiter Klasse." This isn't a choice for the listener, but rather a judgement pervading that same negative space that later declared that 47% of the people are indolent beggars. It's a funny and scary place.

'An Ordinary Swiss' gives equal weight to the sampled sounds of physical instruments and the sounds born of algorithms. All at once digital, synthetic but ultimately aural, analog and hopefully authentic. One of my goals was to employ sounds of purely digital origin not as special effects but as integral and equal expressive parts.

The the song is number five on the album 'Astroturfing.' The album was released in July and 'An Ordinary Swiss' was made available to listen to in its entirety at reverbnation.com/doubledog55. All of the songs strive for the same broad use of tonal colors riding on groove to express something less tangible than itself – but a something that has profound impact. Frighteningly good fun.

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