Tracks for Projects And Now

And Now comprises a song with two verses, the first describing dawn and the second, dusk. It opens with a montage of night sounds (to which performers can contribute), from which a low drone gradually emerges, eventually becoming the dominant feature. The night sounds gradually fade out and a musical representation of clock chimes, outlining a major seventh chord, is heard, followed by an hour bell striking six.

This heralds the entry of the main vocal line, beginning in the Lydian mode (characterised by a sharpened fourth degree of the scale), which is intended to match the bright optimism evoked by the lyrics. The melody is supported by an organum-like vocal accompaniment in fourths, reminiscent of church music of the Middle Ages. This is meant to invoke a feeling of the ancient, immutable inevitability with which day follows night follows day. However, increasingly chromatic harmonic inflections appear, which root the music firmly in the 21st century.

Verse 1 consists of four melodic phrases, each separated from the next by interjections of further clock chimes. Where necessary, these are modified to fit the harmonic contexts in which they occur. This means that the chimes reflect what has just been sung, offering pauses in the narrative of the song and, for participants and listeners, potential moments of contemplation. For those familiar with the rituals of the Christian church, these bell-lilke interpolations may also add to the sense of timelessness evoked by the modal melody and the slow-moving parallel fourths accompaniment.

As the last in the series of clock chimes dies away, rural daytime sounds come to the fore: the cries of farm animals and birds, and the chirp of insects. A drone appears once more, followed by clock chimes. Together, these frame the darker, modally ambiguous sound of an A flat major seventh / F minor ninth chord. Again, a bell strikes six.

As the vocal lines enter to mark the beginning of Verse 2, this harmonic ambiguity resolves to the minor mode, conveying a sense of sadness as dusk foreshadows the coming night. Although the second verse is structured in the same way as the first, with both lyrical and melodic symmetries, it initially evokes the opposite sentiment: optimism is replaced with melancholy. As the melody unfolds, a piercing chromaticism stretches the tonal envelope to the limit as the narrator laments the dying of the light. But there is a retreat from the brink of despair, and, finally, a peaceful acceptance of the inevitable cycle of day and night, expressed through a return to the original major key. The sounds of the night are heard once more, and the narrative comes full circle.

The lyrics are as follows:

And now the sun appears;
it’s break of day.
The darkness soon will be
a mem’ry far away.
The moon and stars are fading
as the sky grows bright,
I feel my spirits rising
in the new-found light.

And now the moon appears;
it’s end of day.
The daylight soon will be
a mem’ry far away.
The sun is sinking slowly,
slowly in the west.
A sense of peace descends
as I lie down to rest.

There are 16 tracks available to support learning and performances of And Now: