September 2023

Musings is the latest of my collections of tunes that are of a particular genre, which I don’t know what to call exactly. I don’t think that anyone will dance to these tunes unless they are into slow dancing or some other artistic dance expression. The music is more for a listening experience while reading the lyrics, catching a meaning that might resonate with you on some level. Some of my listeners told me that they see them as lyric poems.

Mixing the recordings is always challenging for me due to the limitations I have technically as well as in training. It’s probably best to listen through headphones or quality 3-way speakers. At times when I play the tunes through my cellphone speaker, the correct levels don’t always come through. In our world today music is being played through such a variety of gadgets, it’s nearly impossible for me to get it right for all the formats. Unless, one day, a mastering engineer gets a hold of me…..

I want to give credit to my wife, Lilo, who always puts everything together on my website. Lilo has taught herself (with the help of a friend) to be able to handle not only the upkeep of my website, but she also created the art and design for each project. Without her support, it would take me so much longer to even get started and publish anything, it’s an unknown universe to me.

The best to all of you, thanks for listening!

August 2022

Hey there,

Here is my new collection of tunes in the Pop genre. “PopPourri” is my word for this medley of tunes with lyric themes of thoughts and ideas that touch onto nature, dreams, human affairs, love, acceptance, discovery, awareness, passion and growth – in short, almost the whole gamut.

As it seems, we all are so busy in a world dealing with issues brought on by the human condition, with challenges for each and every one of us to face, managing our own thoughts and actions in respoonse to it all…. who has time for anything else?

But, since we all are growing here in some ways, on some level, to heightened awareness and hopefully accessing this from inner wisdom and/or enlightenment, it can be interesting, beneficial, and even fun to share our experiences with each other along the way.

So, that’s what I’m doing here on a certain level with my music compositions and lyrics. I’m so fortunate and grateful to be able to continue, and always appreciative of the support of my wife Lilo, whose visual, abstract cover design got me going into this PopPourri.

Enjoy, and thanks for listening.

James

Today an awesome full Moon is showing up and Fall Equinox is just around the corner, a good time for me to publish a few more of my compositions. Adding to the songbook of SoundArrayMusic, this new album, SoundTiers, is a collection of jazz-feel alternative instrumental tunes.  To me, it really felt right to put out another instrumental album. It was time because I’ve been wanting to do this ever since the release of my Closetorium album. A couple of the tracks in SoundTiers have been reworked, adding in some parts I omitted since I released them in the Closetorium album. As much as I love singing, a certain freedom comes from having no words and vocals to deal with. However, using synth-based brass instruments can be similar with their nuances. As the “editor-in-chief” – my wife – wisely recommended, I sized the album down to 10 tracks which seems to be common practice. If it were up to me there would at least be double as many, I love doing instrumentals. Enjoy!!!

Hi Everyone,

“Back by popular request and raving reviews of my first album, Reboot, Volume 1, with songs I wrote in the early 80’s, here is From The Vault, Volume 2.

Digging into the vault, I gathered a few more tunes which I am releasing with this album, From The Vault, Volume 2, and there are more to come later. We thought it’s time for the tunes to see the light of day, they have been hidden way too long. Actually, I had planned to release another album with more current compositions this month, but we were having fun going back in time with my old tunes, so here they are. My next album with more current compositions will follow soon.

The series, From The Vault, is a reflection of what I was doing back in the early 80’s. While listening to the music in Volume 2 you might want to put on your 1980’s dancing shoes. Maybe you will also enjoy hearing my friend Robert Thornburn’s work in these collections as much as I do, especially his guitar mastery considering the short amount of time we had to finish each tune.

Just as we were going to upload the album, our site host advised us that we had to increase our web storage to accommodate more music. That sent me into a long redo for many things. While dug into cyberspace and beyond I got a different idea for a title of these older compositions which then lead to a change of the album cover. The title, From The Vault, is more fitting for that body of work and so is the art work my wife Lilo created from a photo of old doors she took a while back somewhere in eastern Germany. That’s why we also changed the title and art work of Reboot into From The Vault.

I am in a different space now but it is fun to re-visit my younger years. Listening to the tunes with my Sony over the ear headphones plugged into my cellphone, the sound is good. It is also good from the computer with my newer Bose Companion speakers. As everyone has different ways to hear music these days, I can only hope the sound is as good as it is for us here at home.

Like I said, I will be releasing the previously scheduled album very soon.

Thanks for your support.

James

Here is my new collection of songs to bring a little reprieve for the hard times all of us a going through. I will keep the music coming to you as long as I can, no matter what the situation, because I want to contribute to the well-being of the planet.

Getting out of my head and, being as objective as I am able to, when I begin to assemble a project with a new family of songs, I try to give the listener some melodies and thoughts that somewhat link together. It is difficult for me to assign a genre or influence in order to give you a heads up of what might be expected. Maybe you will discover some fun surprises that you will welcome without a musical designation.

For me, listening in a neutral way I can best hear what is being communicated, without judgement, opinion, likes or dislikes. It is akin to having a conversation with someone, allowing ideas and feelings to be what they are, and let expressions move freely. And after that I can decide whether this is something I want to incorporate into my life or not.

It is my hope that my compositions will bring you the enjoyment I feel when I create them.

James