Strangling Strangers [DEMO SS001]

After the release of Shudderflowers by An Early Morning Letter, Displaced last Autumn, I decided to explore some of the harsher elements of that album within my other aural project, Strangling Strangers.

Strangling Strangers is a project that I’ve tinkered with for years after coming up with alternate material at the turn of the century when developing music for Through Darkened Eyes:

i think these things i shouldn’t think
in places i shouldn’t think them
sawing off the head of a prostitute
or strangling strangers
and this pain in my side
keeps me awake at night

I’ve decided to experiment with some of these new ideas in earnest for 2010. I’m unsure on where this project might go from here… but for now- we have a demo…

The only way I can describe it right now is that Strangling Strangers is much more intense and immediate than An Early Morning Letter, Displaced. Granted, I may decide to abandon the project as soon as tomorrow, but feel free to friend/fan if this strikes you.

Visit Strangling Strangers on:

• Facebook
• MySpace

An Early Morning Letter, Displaced: Shudderflowers

Shudderflowers official release date is set for September 22nd, 2009. It may or may not be available to purchase from various retailers at that time, but here are a few you can try, after the date has passed: iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon, and eventually Verizon, Zune, Napster, and the rest…

An Early Morning Letter, Displaced: Shudderflowers

2009 Fractured Vision Media

Shudderflowers reflects upon themes of fervent self-destruction and the fragility of the female mind. Tortured soundscapes pierced with the bones of shattered dreams. A nightmare concert filled with the anguished cries of broken children, delivered with a sweeping stiletto… and a whisper.

1. Shudderflowers
2. I Am Consumed
3. Fever-Drenched and Burning
4. Fearless
5. Waning Flower
6. Searching, Lost
7. Beneath White Stones
8. A Cleansing of Bones
9. Where Dead Girls Lie
10. Alice (the bones)
11. Drowning Past The Sky
12. Threadbare
13. Shudderflowers (reprise)

I want to note here a few interesting facts regarding this release:

• This is the 4th formal album from An Early Morning Letter, Displaced.
• This is the second full-length collection from that same body of work.
• The synthesizer elements were all produced via software synths. My hardware synths were only used as MIDI controllers this time around.
• As was the case for the previous release, samples were taken from violin and processed into the mix. No guitar, this time.
• A reworked version of the unreleased track She’s Fallen (2001) almost made it onto the release. It ended up going in the wrong direction and was abandoned.
• The track Threadbare is originally from the abandoned Stillborn release from 2003/2004.
• Fever-Drenched and Burning was actually composed and recorded last Winter when I was suffering from intense fever!
• The beginnings of many of the lyrics for this release were composed stream-of-consciousness on Twitter.
• An alternate version of Fearless can be found as soundtrack to the short film “The Fearless Man” 2007
• This is the first release which contains vocal material that is not solely produced by myself. Alice (the bones) and Beneath White Stones feature the additional vocals of two girls, respectively; one living, one dead†. The dead girl’s voice having been recovered from an old telephone answering machine.
• Alice (the bones) also contains samples from various sources, including the Švankmajer film “Alice”.
• The original (long) verison of Alice (the bones) was written as background noise to a Hallowe’en party.
• The cover art is adapted from a painting I completed in 2004 titled “Neck Zipper” and inspired by a sweater my girlfriend (now, wife) was fond of wearing:
  
• This may be the last physical release I produce. Sales of A Prison of Oneself were okay, but (if the numbers are any indication $$$) people seem much more interested in digital distribution… and it is certainly less of a headache for me.
• I may try something new after this. I have an additional project called Strangling Strangers that I might start working on again. Its a lot less ambient… more coarse and noise-based.
• Samples from this, and all An Early Morning Letter, Displaced releases can be found at the Myspace Music page.

Shudderflowers: I Am Consumed

In anticipation of Shudderflowers, An Early Morning Letter, Displaced now presents the third in a series of new tracks on MySpace Music:

I Am Consumed falls at track #2 on the new release and represents somewhat of a departure in style.

I Am Consumed
this fear consumes me
memories of long forgotten corpses
their silver blood falls to the leaves
“would my lips give you any comfort? at such a time of peril?”

consume my flesh
consume my fear
consume the desire that still burns
and extinguish my life

This fear consumes me
memories of long forgotten nights
and the petals now fallen to the earth
and the precious, still moments that will never be.

Shudderflowers is scheduled for release this month through Fractured Vision Media.

“Shudderflowers” is Complete!

With the completion of Shudderflowers, An Early Morning Letter, Displaced now presents the first in a series of new tracks on MySpace Music:

Waning Flower falls at track #5 on the new release and is very similar to previous work. The styles on this collection vary a bit from what has come before and they will all have representatives over the next few weeks.

Waning Flower
fevered sleep deprives the child of these waning flowers
seal these things within burning memories
conflagration of the soul

Shudderflowers is scheduled for a September release through Fractured Vision Media.

An Early Morning Letter, Displaced — Shudderflowers

Available this autumn:

Shudderflowers

2009 Fractured Vision Media

Shudderflowers reflects upon themes of fervent self-destruction and the fragility of the female mind. Tortured soundscapes pierced with the bones of shattered dreams. A nightmare concert filled with the anguished cries of broken children, delivered with a sweeping stiletto… and a whisper.

1. Shudderflowers
2. I Am Consumed
3. Fever-Drenched and Burning
4. Fearless
5. Waning Flower
6. Searching, Lost
7. Beneath White Stones
8. A Cleansing of Bones
9. Where Dead Girls Lie
10. Alice (the bones)
11. Drowning Past The Sky
12. Threadbare
13. Shudderflowers (reprise)