DARDIS: Closed Eyes in the Black Bag of Sleep

Submitted by: Colin D.

I usually work with guitar and ambient sounds to create compositions, but this piece was made using only a steel tongue drum, a form of tuned percussion.

My wife bought me the tongue drum for my birthday last year. All the extra spare time that has been created by staying at home has allowed me to experiment with the drum and get familiar with its sounds. as well as learn some new production techniques.

I’m not interested in traditional song structures; rather, I like to explore where melody and rhythm breaks down, and introduce atonal elements into the work. I started composing as a way to find an expression for depression and mental health. However, in the past year, I’m finding more and more crossover with my own mood, and the national mood created by the pandemic.