Hey

One of my own pieces for a change. Features some offbeat harmonies. Instrumental, two acoustic guitars.

Originally composed for for (and performed by) acoustic guitar and flute. My friend Matt added some nice improvisatory flourishes and a short solo for this two-guitar version.

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posted by danb (10 comments total)

Beautiful danb. I love this. It takes the scenic route to a very thoughtful place.
posted by dobie at 10:50 AM on August 12, 2008

Starts out eerie and ends up really sweet. I like it!
posted by arcanecrowbar at 1:45 PM on August 12, 2008

I love how unpredictable this is. Very unusual and very pleasing, and it kept me off-balance.
posted by ORthey at 3:08 PM on August 12, 2008

This is pretty. I really like the architecture of it--the chords that you're spelling out. It actually shares some of the harmonic vocabulary of an old tune by Preston Reed called Cane Bay, but with more shifts that almost sound Romantic*.

This is certainly a matter of personal taste, but the bursts of quick notes sometimes pulled me out of the reverie of the slower arpeggios. I really liked the tune, though.



*19th century Romantic, I mean, not romantic, although it could be that too, if you get out the candles. Well, even then, the tune feels kind of melancholy, so it would have to be a soundtrack to a couple about to part, about to admit they have to break up because their feelings are just too intense, or something like that.
posted by umbú at 5:46 PM on August 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

This is lovely.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:38 PM on August 12, 2008

And BTW, danb, just want to say it was really cool how you kept to your word and commented on EVERY MeFiMu tune last month. Kudos!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:41 PM on August 12, 2008

There's an almost Henry Mancini quality to this, when he was composing for thrillers.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:05 PM on August 12, 2008

Great.. thanks a lot.
posted by nicolin at 12:39 PM on August 13, 2008

Wow! Thanks for all the nice comments.

umbú: I hear you. It was cool having Matt play the melody on guitar because he soloed (my flautist didn't), so there's a bit more variety). Timbrally, though, I still think the flute works better for this piece. We sort of ran with the more percussive effect (see 1:11), but it's not what I had in mind when I composed it.

I like your interpretation. :-) When I was writing the piece back in college, I showed it to a professor and we had this conversation about the title:

"'Hey'?"
"Yeah, 'Hey.' I'm not sure if it really fits."
"No, I think it's perfect. I mean, 'Hey' doesn't have to be, like, 'Hey!', you know? It can just be like...'Hey.'"
posted by danb at 12:43 PM on August 14, 2008

To me it actually has some Brazillian feel to it, like those Heitor Vila-Lobos guitar studies that are not in-your-face Brazillian, but have a tinge of the Brazillian sound. Very nice, danb.
posted by micayetoca at 9:36 AM on August 27, 2008