This last weekend was the 17th edition of the Two hour album challenge (and the third I’ve taken part in.) Every few months, a bunch of musicians separately each make a track inside two hours over the weekend, inspired by a theme randomly chosen just beforehand. This month’s theme was corruption, which is full of possibility! Definitely a lot of sonic possibilities, but I took corruption as a dramatic theme and tried to make a soundtrack-style piece around the idea of a hero (being) corrupted. Made me think, among other things, of Othello…

Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons
Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,
But with a little act upon the blood
Burn like the mines of sulfur.
…
Look, where he comes. Nor poppy nor mandragora
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou owedst yesterday.

I was also really really concerned about setting out on this, for some reason! Once I got going though I had a fine time and I was pleased with what I managed in two hours — but at the same time two hours was nowhere enough to get it remotely polished or “finished”… The idea of the challenge is to let go your inhibitions and speed up your process (and raise money for cats, go donate for the album!) — kind of similar to my PIANOWRIMO challenge, but maybe I’m just more used to that by now, that and the scale is very different.

I like the first gathering of sound, and the “regret for what was lost” theme. The orchestration is… hinted at! best I could do in the time…

If you want to see the composition Process is devastating detail, we are encouraged to record/stream the whole two hours, so you can in fact do that here.

Or, in a more edifying use of your time, you can listen to all 60 tracks here:

(And here are my pieces for the two previous challenges.)