Sunday, January 25, 2015

Dark Intelligence to Music

For this blog post I hand you over to Steve Buick:


I wrote the music for Dark Intelligence with the idea that long soundscapes could evoke the atmospheres in the book and enhance the reading experience without actually interfering with the reading itself. I did the same thing for Peter F Hamilton's The Abyss Beyond Dreams, which kickstarted the concept. I noticed people on buses and trains reading while listening to music. Surely music that was created for the book would be the ideal environment for the story? Evokescape was born.

In Dark Intelligence there is a pace and energy that required musical transformations matching those of the characters with a continually moving tension. All overshadowed by deep and spiralling clouds of synths and sound effects. Layers of rhythms and pulses evolve, building with sounds that represent the dark technology of the story.

For some of these ideas I looked to 1970s/80s Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, with their insane sequencers and stark synths. I've always thought their albums felt like the soundtracks to unmade science fiction films and decided I would invent my own version of those creations somewhere down the line.

The mp3 album of three long tracks is available on Amazon, iTunes and other digital stores worldwide under the title Original Music for Neal Asher's Dark Intelligence. Released on the same date as the book, January 29th.


Evokescape's Steve Buick produces long, evolving musical soundscapes inspired by books to enhance the reader's experience, creating the final seal to the outside world and deepening the reading experience.



Original Music for Neal Asher's Dark Intelligence


Further Links:




4 comments:

Alex said...

Hello, Neal! Well done on the new book. Only problem is that I have forgotten the multitude of characters involved. No worries however, gives me a good excuse to re-read the Technician. Looking forward to more books from you.

Miles Campbell said...

Even more to look forward to. His work for ABD was wonderful stuff. I'm just glad they're being released after my exams otherwise i'd have no chance!

Neal Asher said...

Thanks Alex.

I look forward to listening to it, Miles.

Marc Tams said...

I was just telling my partner about Dark Intelligence which I'm reading on the train/bus/at home at the moment. I said all it's missing is a soundtrack to complement the writing. One Google search later...

Thank you :)