sco21078997 Computer-Based composition – Composition & Report (SHR6E005C~002)

by

Scot,Sam (STUDENT)

Small Hours

Report

Of the styles that were presented to us across the year, I found myself most drawn to the Kiasmos sound and chose to attempt a song in their style for the assignment. I began the first draft of ‘Small Hours’ during the practical half of the seminar, aiming to recreate the atmosphere of tracks by Kiasmos, finding additional inspiration in tracks by Jon Hopkins, Underset, and The 1975.

Self described as ‘minimal techno with orchestral flourishes and weightless production’ (Kiasmos, 2024), the shared characteristics that I found inspiring in Kiasmos’ sound and my other influences were the drawn out building up of the songs, creating a low energy trance-like atmosphere, and a juxtaposition between natural earthy sounds like acoustic pianos and strings, and electronic dance music. 

I chose a slower tempo of 114bpm, slower than typical speeds for the Minimal Techno genre (Bennet, 2023), but it has reinforced the trance-like energy like the Kiasmos tracks ‘Thrown’ and ‘Wrecked’.

A major feature of Kiasmos’ songs are the acoustic piano elements. The starting point of Small Hours was to find an aesthetically similar natural piano sound and played sparse, melancholic chords like those found in the tracks ‘Blurred’ and ‘Looped’, noting the off-beat rhythmic placement of notes. Later I developed a new section using piano arpeggios like those found at 6:48 of Jon Hopkin’s ‘Light Through the Veins’, and Kiasmos’ ‘Drawn’.

Piano chords
Piano arpeggiated chords development

After feedback from Robert Bentall, I further slowed down the development of the track. Small Hours’s elongated and drawn out development reflects the slow ascent of energy found in ‘Thrown’ and ‘Sailed’ by Kiasmos, ‘The End’ by Underset, and the Jon Hopkins remix of Coldplay’s ‘Midnight’.

Section 1, very gradual development of arrangement over 2 minutes

‘Midnight’ and ‘Looped’, and the end of Kiasmos’ ‘Lit’ also inspired the side-chained compression on the synth-strings and synth-bass, making the track have a more punchy disco kick, but also reinforcing the trance like pulse that I was aiming for.

Side-chain compression, and 4-to-the-floor kick
Side-chain compression from kick

The Kiasmos drum sound is a dichotomy between electronic ‘Berlin scene inspired’ beats (Kiasmos, 2024), and natural earthy sounds, for example in ‘Gaunt’ and ‘Drawn’ from the Swept EP. Whilst I tried to replicate the acoustic quality of the drums, I leaned more into the electronic realm in the end. In future I would record my own samples from my own percussion and drum setup to have a closer and less synthetic sound.

I always accentuated the ‘4-to-the-floor’ needed for a strong dance pulse, and gradually developed the drum part through the song, adding and taking away percussive elements. At the dance climax of the song, I created a rhythmically dense groove reminiscent of 2:40 of Kiasmos’ ‘Bent’, and Jon Hopkins’ ‘Neon Pattern Drum’, bit crushing it for added punch, and adding percussive synths which add to the rhythmic tapestry.

Dance drums rhythmic tapestry
Dense percussion tapestry

My upfront synthesiser arpeggiators elements are drawn from The 1975 influences including ‘Shiny Collarbone’, and ‘I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It’, and ‘The End’ and ‘Berlin’ by Underset. Kiasmos’ arpeggiators are either more subdued such as in ‘Blurred’ or ‘Wrecked’ (2:25), or they are natural sounds like the piano in ‘Dawn’.

I did attempt to recreate a cello solo, however the midi sounds did not do justice to the expression of a real cello. On the advice of Robert Bentall I swapped this out for synthesiser lead lines, placing them further back in the mix.

I used midi string sections for chord layers and some melodic runs like those found in ‘Looped’, ‘Blurred’, and ‘Held’. I brought the track to a close with string section chords and a fading percussive synth melody, all of which happens gradually.

Strings chords and cello melody

The clicks, and sample glitch effects are inspired by the cut up vocal samples and the percussive nature of ‘Yeah I Know’ by The 1975 (notable at 2:55 onwards), and in particular the kalimba sample from 3:10 to 3:28 of ‘Thrown’ by Kiasmos. I leaned into the glitch effect as a textural tool in a more synthetic way than ‘Thrown’ does.

glitch

Reanalysing Kiasmos’ discography revealed the extensive use of synthesiser soundscapes which had gone unnoticed by me for much of Small Hour’s development. The soundscapes help shape the dreamlike ambience of Kiasmos music in tracks like ‘Lit’, ‘Grown’, ‘Blurred’, and the subtly pitch modulated ‘Gaunt’, which influenced my choice of sound when adding my own. I used gentle bit-crushing effects on the soundscape to give it a sparkly texture. ‘Lit’ sounds like it uses light distortion or saturation to provide a similar effect. Like many Kiasmos pieces, the soundscape introduces the piece and reoccurs throughout, providing a backdrop.

Soundscape, bit-crush and subtle pitch modulation

Whilst I set out to recreate the Kiasmos sound with Small Hours, ultimately I took it down a different route that reflected my current tastes in electronic music. If I were to attempt a Kiasmos style composition again, I would spend much more time listening to Kiasmos’ discography both casually and critically to ingrain the subtleties of the sound, so I am more able to pay an accurate homage to them. I would also hire a string orchestra and cello soloist.

Bibliography