Aquariums
Conceptual Realizations
© 2007 Martin Schneider (634479654695) (format: CD-R)
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"One sign of an excellent songwriter is someone who can get outside of their own head, their own hang-ups and bravely delve into others’ lives; Aquariums quite poignantly delivers this." -The Murfreesboro Pulse-
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Aquariums – a collection of ambitious and intense personal songs in an experimental/acoustic style
This ambitious album of experimental ambient acoustic music comes from the heart of Music City USA and the body and soul of one man: Martin Schneider.
I have been playing the guitar since I turned fourteen and in bands nearly as long. Aquariums, my first solo endeavor, started almost two years ago. Conceptual Realizations is a collection of songs written and recorded from January 2006 to July 2007. Some of them took over a full year to reach their final form contained herein. From the start I chose not to employ a defined genre in which to write. Instead I chose to focus on composing songs based around emotions and events that deeply affected me. So if stylistically the songs are not all congruent, there is a thread that ties all of them together: emotion.
I recorded the entirety in solitude at the various houses and apartments I have occupied in the past year and a half. The genesis of the collection, ‘Aquariums’, was written while reading The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan translated by Pierre Rigoulot. This haunting memoir details the tribulations of North Korean, Kang Chol-Hwan, and his family who were imprisoned in a hard labor camp in North Korea. Mr. Chol-Hwan languished there from the age of nine to eighteen. I wrote ‘Aquariums’ about his life prior to his family’s imprisonment. Reading about the cruelty of the people that surrounded him, even the children, was very disturbing. ‘Escape’ takes place after his release from the labor camp, and is about his journey out of North Korea into China and eventually to South Korea. Reading this book kick-started the creative process and is where the name for the project originated. The remainder of the collection, written to capture different emotions that I have experienced in the past year in musical form, includes ‘1991’, ‘Lovely Mother’, and ‘Love of a Brother'.
Looking through the contents of my grandfather’s dresser drawer and thinking back on the December that he passed on moved me. Later that night, while wearing his watch and feverishly etching out lyrics on the inside foil of an empty pack of cigarettes, ‘1991’ was written. I wrote ‘Lovely Mother’ in much the same fashion. My girlfriend’s mother had just taken a downward turn and my girlfriend was devastated. It was painful to see her suffer. I wanted to write her a somber, compassionate song to show her how I felt. I knew how it should sound, but the lyrics would not come. While visiting my brother in Savannah, I explained to him how I was feeling and what I wanted to express in verse when the lyrics finally came to me. Once I came up with the lyrics, I knew the song had to be in two parts: the first expressing how I felt and the second conveying the relationship between my girlfriend and her mother. These lyrics were written in one sitting and I was less concerned with rhyme than describing a complete emotion. ‘Love of a Brother’ came after a late night conversation my brother about my lack of a relationship with God. After he went to bed I could not stop thinking about what he had said and could not fall asleep. While awake in my bed, with my guitar, I wrote down some words to a melody I had been playing with earlier in the day. When I awoke the next morning the first thing I did was play him the song.
This is a very personal album and it has taken a long time to come to fruition. Recording it alone gave me the opportunity to experiment and explore instrumentation and sound without being pulled in a different direction by another’s influence. The songs were, for the most part, written in a similar fashion. None of them were complete before they were recorded. Many of the songs were allowed to grow through the recording process into something impossible to replicate alone in concert. The lyrics were regularly the final part of the song to fall into place. They were often written separately while either out of town or on the road and then adapted to fit the song. I find it very helpful to remove myself from Nashville and familiar surroundings in order to clear my head and actually get something done.
Martin Schneider: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar,Fender Rhodes, melodica, synthesizers, bass, piano, vibraphone, Celeste, organ, and drums on track 9
Clark Simmons: drums on track 10 and percussion on track 8
Claire Adams: vocals on tracks 8 and 9
Written, Recorded, and Mixed by Martin Schneider at the various places he has lived from January 2006 to July 2007.
Mastered by Bart Morris
Art by Walter Schneider
All songs © 2007 Aquariums music