The Howard Hughes Suite - Smoke from a Future Fire (The Slow Music Movement) [ May 5th 2020]

WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE:

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WHAT WE SAY:

SPECIAL announcement time. :) I'm absolutely delighted to welcome one of the UK's finest cosmic cowboys, The Howard Hughes Suite to The Slow Music Movement. This is the first of several planned releases, so hold tight for a unique, pedal steel powered, widescreen, psychedelic trip through the Americana badlands.

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WHAT YOUR EARS SAY:

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WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY:

The Howard Hughes Suite is a modern-day cosmic cowboy. He stoically keeps a low profile and hunkers down in his home studio in the South West of England with his faithful instruments, away from the noise of crowded gig venues or the idle chatter between takes during session work, once his mainstay. From this isolated musical outpost he surveys Americana landscapes with a reassuringly classic, but distinctly widescreen, psychedelic pioneering spirit.
On Smoke from a Future Fire, over the course of several seasons, solitary but not lonesome, surrounded by his trusty instruments, The Howard Hughes Suite had no particular place to go. Feeling restless he saddled up his digital workstation, unholstered his pedal steel and ambled beyond the acoustic flatlands, through cinematic ravines & across electronic streams just to see what was out there.

Whilst roaming he flashed back to the pylon-free, buffalo-rich plains of Western lore, but also had visions to a future of rusting pickup trucks slowly succumbing to time and nature, which had long since adapted to the man-made climatic change that finally rid earth of its most disruptive species. Through sun-pinned eyes he looked beyond the dust to see the majesty of the southern deserts. Rising out of his saddle he looked over snow-capped distant mountain ranges to gaze at the tiniest creatures and smallest stones. He looked around and saw what was, what is and what could be. He saw no horrors, just the mind-blowing Interconnectedness of all things. Neither happy nor sad, but just content with being, he hit stop on the tape machine and decided to share his thoughts.

This LP was originally released through The Howard Hughes Suite's personal Bandcamp page in 2020. Despite getting solid support from Americana diehards who had tracked it down, we couldn't help thinking it needed introducing to a wider audience. What you hear before you is a slightly re-edited version that has been lovingly remastered by none other than Ian Hawgood for increased aural pleasure.

CREDITS:
Equipment and instruments:
(Ancient) Mac Pro (Running: OS X Snow Leopard).
Pro Tools LE 8.
Propellerhead Reason 4.0.
Toontrack EZDrummer 2.
Various iOS music apps.
All music recording in the box. No outboard gear used apart from: Mbox Audio 2 and Boss GT5.
MXL V67GS large-diaphragm solid-state condenser microphone.
(Temperamental) Sho-Bud Maverick Pedal Steel.
Tanglewood Electro Acoustic. TF2CE Series.
Fender Stratocaster (Mexican).
Fender Telecaster (Mexican).
Martin Backpacker Steel String Acoustic.
Tanglewood Electric Fretless Bass.
Mandolin.
No-name Spanish/classical acoustics.
EBow.

Artwork:
Not only does The Howard Hughes Suite's passion run deep for the art and craft of music, he's also an avid photographer, with an idiosyncratic eye, and designs his own cover artwork. An exhibition of his photography, film and music is expected later in the year.

About The Howard Hughes Suite:
The Howard Hughes Suite grew up in a musical household and needed no encouragement to teach himself several musical instruments. With a drummer as a father, a love for the guitar greats, a fascination with the electronic pioneers, a history of playing live, years spent as a session musician, a love of the visual arts though photography and experience with soundtrack work, it was only a matter of time before all these musical ley lines converged into the rather special musical project you have before you.

Twitter: twitter.com/tHHs47
Instagram: www.instagram.com/thehowardhughessuite/
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/thhs1/videos

All music © The Howard Hughes Suite.
Except for 'Opening Aunt Dora's Box in 6/8'. Composed by Rainer Ptacek.

Mastering: Ian Hawgood (www.homenormal.com)