A Sneak Peak at Timeshift
A Sneak Peak at Timeshift
After laboring over the past few days, I am ready to share some information about my latest composition for clarinet and electronics, Timeshift.
Timeshift was inspired by a character from the hit RPG card game, Sentinels of the Multiverse. The character’s name is Omnitron-X, a time travelling robot super hero who sends itself back in time to destroy its evil creator.
Omnitron-X's superpower is called 'Timeshift'
Omnitron-X is a complicated character in the Multiverse. This robot is actually a final evolution of one of the greatest villains in the game, Omnitron. Omnitron fought the heroes for years. After every defeat, the sentient robotic villain improved itself again and again causing more and more chaos and destruction. After so many defeats, Omnitron finally reformed itself into Omnitron-X. Omnitron-X was the first Omnitron capable of feeling empathy for others. X realized that his predecessors have been causing death and destruction for years. Thus, Omnitron-X took it upon itself to travel back in time to stop the original Omnitron from taking thousands of lives. More can be read here.
The villainous Omnitron. This robot wants to destroy mankind in order to fill the world with more efficient robots!
Timeshift has an overall sci-fi feel to it. The piece uses a pre-recorded synthesizer part as a harmonic background to the melodic clarinet part. Like my previous work on Siren (listen here), this piece is a marriage of electronic and acoustic styles of music with a touch of improvisation.
The synthesizer part represents the emotionless, robotic nature of Omnitron. The raw electronic part sounds detached, non-committal. The part is strictly a harmonic progression. It is music, but it is bare and without dynamics or expressive tools.
The clarinet part represents the strength of human nature. Feeling empathy is what allows Omnitron-X to become more powerful than ever before. Embracing humanity allows the robot to find its purpose in life and bring together other heroes to save the lives of the innocents.
At times, the combination of the emotionless electronic harmonic progression and the living clarinet melody will impose a sense of melancholy or regret. At other times, the life of the melody in the clarinet becomes impassioned, restlessly seeking redemption. The array of moods portrayed is representative of Omnitron-X’s struggle to deal with feeling these emotions for the first time.
Here is a sample of the pre-recorded synth part. Don’t get too excited, this is supposed to be an emotionless harmonic progression, remember? The real story will come to life with the addition of the clarinet part.
Stay tuned for more updates on Timeshift! Also, be sure to check out Sentinels of the Multiverse. This is one of the best card games I’ve ever played. Check out their website!