Back in 2009, I started work on a pair of cover albums. I already knew I wanted one to be in English and the other in Japanese. The English language album would play a game of “what if”, while the Japanese language album would sound more like a very fleshed-out karaoke album.
I made enough progress to record the easier guitar parts, but the more difficult parts required a player devoted to the instrument. My abilities are not up to task.
There was also the issue of licensing — when I saw how much it would cost to handle the administration of the various licenses, I shelved the project. I’d come back to it when I knew I could line up the funds to release it properly.
It would take 11 years before that could happen.
In that time, I upgraded my studio. I bought better plugins, and I even sank cash into a series of very convincing samplers from Native Instruments. To be honest, I don’t think I would have pursued this album if it weren’t for Electric Sunburst Deluxe.
Then SARS-CoV2 caused a worldwide pandemic, and I found myself locked down like everyone else in the country.
Some people learned how to make sourdough bread. I buckled down and remixed the two cover albums collecting digital dust.
So my lockdown project are these albums: 新曲モラトリアム日本語版 (Shinkyoku Moratorium Nihongohan) and 新曲モラトリアム英語版 (Shinkyoku Moratorium Eigoban). If you’re thinking I’m paying homage to Muzai Moratorium by Shiina Ringo, you’d be correct.
These albums will probably be the last Eponymous 4 projects for some time. I’ll be focusing more attention to Empty Ensemble and Penzias and Wilson for new works.
As of this writing, I’ve got one more track to clear for Shinkyoku Moratorium Eigoban, but for now, Oct. 30 is the target date for both albums to go out in the world. Two singles, “Hurt So Bad” and “Be My Last”, precede the album — “Hurt So Bad” on Sept. 4 and “Be My Last” on Oct. 2. I aim to make pre-orders for the albums available in the middle of September.