Mychael Danna - Sirens

"Sirens bears the influence of both spacemusic and film music. It symbolizes my search for the mysterious, the unknown, and the beautiful - the feminine qualities which hold an endless attraction. The voices of the Sirens will always call us."

- MYCHAEL DANNA

With Sirens, MYCHAEL DANNA takes a giant step beyond his previous work to establish himself as one of the ranking composers of what I'd like to call cinematic spacemusic. Without resorting to bombast or cliche, he's evolved a highly melodic, orchestrated style with very broad appeal.

In the four year hiatus between American releases, work on film soundtracks has brought the element of drama to Danna's music. "The last few years have taught me a great deal about the craft of writing music, mastering technical challenges, working with speed and concentration."

On a production level, his signature electronic orchestrations and three-dimensional spatial environments have developed significantly. On Sirens he broadens his sonic palette with vernacular pop and ethnic genre instruments like electric and pedal steel guitars, bamboo flute, and Scottish Highland bagpipes played by guest soloists including brother JEFF DANNA.

Thematically, the project emerged from a fascination with the mysterious qualities of the feminine and the perspective of the female psyche. In this post-feminist period of revaluation and rebalancing of our individual and cultural assumptions, Danna says he "wanted to create an album expressing aspects of the feminine spirit embodied by goddesses and historic female figures of myth and legend."

Each piece looks back in time and paints a sonic landscape with its own unique musical language, in a series of dramatic tableaux. Sirens fulfills the promise of contemporary studio crafting with stunning sonic imagery, solidly grounded in the traditional musical values of melody and harmony.

Credits

MYCHAEL DANNA Synclavier, sampler, all synthesizers,
tape loops, Steinway piano, Ibanez electric guitar on Nakawe
MARY SOULS vocal on Sirens
PATRICK 'GORMAN bagpipes on Deirdre of the Sorrows
JEFF DANNA Ferlenetto electric guitar on A Feather for Your Soul
RON DANN, LEE WARREN pedal steel guitars on /nanna
RON CORB bamboo flute on Durga

Produced by Mychael Danna and Stephen Hill
All music composed by Mychael Danna
© 1991 Mychael Danna Music / SOCAN
Tracks recorded by Mychael Danna at McLaughlin Planetarium
•Studio, Toronto • Mixed on Meyer HD-I monitors by Jeff Shuey,
Stephen Hill, and Mychael Danna at FTM Studios, Denver,
February 1991 • Mix engineer / Jeff Shuey • Digital editing and
mastering / Stephen Hill at Hearts of Space Studio San Francisco,
with Sound Designer 2.01, Thiel CS3.5 monitors  

2-HOS-11026