Tag: Justin Robinson

Justin Robinson Steps Away From Synths to Guitar Drones on “Last Chance” to Craft an Ever Evolving Tension Easing Drone

JustinRobinson_LastChance1_sm
Justin Robinson, photo courtesy the artist

Justin Robinson took a step away from his usual use of synthesizers in crafting the meditative drones of “Last Chance.” The descending progression is like watching late afternoon rain on a gray day through a window while clearing your mind to be open to having something worth saying or to the unraveling anxieties and mental stumbling blocks around resolving an issue or mystery that’s been plaguing your mind. The progression repeats for the just over two minutes of the track but that you can’t tell that it’s a guitar unless you’re familiar with the creative and innovative ways one can use a guitar to create streaming soundscapes is a testament to Robinson’s imaginative technique. Combining both the use of an e-bow to create that specific string resonance and reverb and maybe some delay and volume control to sculpt a flow of sound like the shifting colors of the Aurora Borealis is a level of craft that you will never learn in a conventional guitar lesson. Maybe watching a YouTube video where someone tries to use guitar to mimic a Fennesz composition or a Brian Eno song. But it’s not the technique so much that matters as how Robinson has crafted an emotional space and experience of sublime tranquility and quiet grace that transcends the conventional song format, defying easy analysis of structure and tonal choice. The song is both atmosphere and texture by suggesting both in a way ethereal and organic. Listen to “Last Chance” on Spotify.

On the Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Moon Landing, Justin Robinson Takes Us to Those Tranquil and Exciting Moments Prior With “Satellite (First Orbit)”

JustinRobinson1_sm
Justin Robinson, photo courtesy the artist

On the fiftieth anniversary of the first landing on the moon we present Justin Robinson’s song “Satellite (First Orbit).” Inspired in part by Brian Eno, and possibly in particular by the latter’s 1983 classic Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks, the song evolves slowly with sounds that capture the elegance and deep mystery of outer space and the sense of being suspended in the great beyond as your craft reaches a comfortable orbit. The subtle layers of drones and lightly struck strings and bell tones mark cosmic time as high frequency resonances sound like starshine and plasma trails, the white-blue haze of earth nearby, a constant presence that dominates your field of view. Robinson takes us to that moment that has changed the consciousness of everyone who has experienced it forever, the feeling of existing beyond mother earth, the only world that, as far as we know, all of humanity going back to its primordial ancestors have ever known. The enigmatic enormity of that moment looking back on the planet and to the nearby moon and floating weightlessly between. Robinson articulates that sense of calm and wonder perfectly. Listen below below and take in the meditative passages of “Satellite (First Orbit).”