November 11/17/23, 2023
Frore and Shane Morris have created Ochre, a freshly discovered memory of the first human forms of art.
Ochre is part of a new form of tribal hypnotic electronic music evoking the spirits of the oldest of mysteries. Caves can be dangerous places. Fear starts because there is a total absence of light beyond the entrance. Cave systems comprise some of the last unexplored regions on Earth.
Ochre occurs naturally in rocks and soil where ferric minerals have pooled and formed, a naturally occurring pigment that is rich in iron. There are variations in color, yellow ochre, red ochre, purple ochre, sienna, and umber, deep red and an especially bright red pigment the color of blood, hand prints made by blowing pigment over hands pressed against the cave surface, hand stencil-shapes and animal drawings, using multiple colors.
Ochre is the stunning fourth collaborative release on Spotted Peccary Music from veteran artists Frore (Paul Casper) & Shane Morris, and the album takes its name from the reddish-brown petroglyphs in ancient caves. Inspired by these timeless works, revered for ages after those who painted them have perished, Ochre seems to ask the question: “What does it mean to make something that lives on after you’re gone?”
With these collaborations with Frore, Morris has found many ways to imagine this territory. “I believe we both are inspired by archeology and new discoveries, particularly from the prehistoric eras. Witnessing these environments always seem to trigger the imagination of what was and may have been.”
Some of the instruments used by Frore and Shane Morris to create Ochre include analog, digital and modular synthesizers, frame drums, udu, gongs, shaker, and the chromatic flute. An udu is a sort of pear shaped clay jug with a special hole in it, played by slapping one’s palm variously. A frame drum is a drum that has a drumhead width greater than its depth and is possibly one of the most ancient musical instruments, the drumhead is stretched over a round, wooden frame. The synergy between these two instruments, udu and frame drum, are some of the key dynamics to the unique sound of Ochre.
The sound is slowly emerging from the cave to the surface, I hear wooden voices or grumbling. "From Spark to Flame" (8:52), the drums bring order from out of the chaotic jungle and the light increases as the trance boogie gathers, just let it take you up there. Imagine breathing the air that has remained down here from so long ago, and the first who came exploring new areas and discovering "Formations" (5:54), the sustained drone tones that flow in and out flickering shadows on the cave walls as the tones catch and then fade. "Into the Dust" (11:29) expands the frame drum drama, the dancer's circle rotates, extending time through all the changes. I can hear that the echo is deep, and I am helplessly swaying in the tempo. Now a slight metal sound which eventually forms a melodic pattern, all very sparse. "Hidden Meaning" (7:09) goes spiraling into the distances beyond. It takes you there.
With some barking drum beats I think there is much more metal being tapped and allowed to reverberate, flute and sustained echos never dense or cluttered, ferric colors tingle through the atmosphere, the beat takes over and the fires burn providing light, "Ochre" (12:52) carries as the marchers climb the inside of the mountain. I hear a slow growling and ringing that leads into a cosmic abyss, I swear that we are flying somehow, because the air is so big. "Waiting for Eternity" (9:13) until the voices of the cavern dwellers creep into the atmosphere, what music they make!
Our unexplained need as humans to leave something of ourselves behind drives so much of our imagination. To create something that wasn't there before. To draw on a cave or cliff wall 40,000 years ago or record an ambient album in the 21 century and wonder how long your mark will last until it all becomes dust. Our tools can be used to describe sensory events, such as sound, movement, color, shape, or action, sensing concepts or sensing ideas, a union of senses grounded in how we activate concepts. Cave paintings, like the experience of art, can only be individual, and depends on a person's unique knowledge, experiences and history, what it is that remains when experiences induced by the piece are accurately balanced with obvious semantics induced by the same piece. I think this makes the listener both strongly think about and strongly experience a new approach to music.
Frore seeks to fuse technology with historic imagery and sound design. “It never gets old for me, to imagine how far back our ancestors go. The terror of life, but more importantly, the awe they must have felt observing the natural world around them.”
Mastered by Howard Givens, Ochre is available for streaming and downloading, including high resolution studio master formats. The project's images and layout were designed by Daniel Pipitone, Spotted Peccary Studios NE. Experience this digital new release, Ochre, now on your platform of choice: https://orcd.co/ochre-spm and at Bandcamp.
For artist interviews, review copies, or promotional requests, please contact Beth Ann Hilton via beth@spottedpeccary.com
Tracklist:
1 From Spark to Flame
2 Formations
3 Into the Dust
4 Hidden Meaning
5 Ochre
6 Waiting for Eternity
Links:
Music Smartlink: https://orcd.co/ochre-spm
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/xnnVDh5k47Q?si=fj7Jo7b8L_UEL2DZ
Spotted Peccary Album Page: https://spottedpeccary.com/shop/ochre/
Bandcamp: https://frore-shanemorris.bandcamp.com/album/ochre
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spottedpeccary/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spottedpeccary
About Frore:
The music of Frore has been featured on the Hearts of Space radio show, the Star’s End radio show and is frequently played on Stillstream.com, the ambient radio channel among other outlets. Paul has a unique approach to ambient music, always seeking to fuse what he calls “primitive sounds” with current technology. Paul isn’t sure why he uses so many world fusion and tribal sounds in his Frore music project. As a child, he always wanted to discover lost indigenous tribes in the forest, loving the mystery and excitement surrounding such a concept. To Paul, his music makes him realize how nothing much changes with people, that music is a fundamental human impulse and an attempt to make sounds to “fight off the loneliness.”
https://www.facebook.com/Froremusic
About Shane Morris:
Shane Morris is a percussionist, synthesist, and composer of ambient electronic music. Inspired by nature, patterns, and systems, he shapes ethereal realms, polyrhythmic grooves, and tribal soundscapes using a variety of acoustic and electronic instruments, processing, hardware and software. A solo artist since 2008, Shane’s interests span most areas of the ambient genre from dark to light, space to melodic, beatless to beats. Shane is an avid live performer and improvisor playing regularly at City Skies and Electro-Music festivals, as well as numerous live internet performances. He also holds a BA in Anthropology and Music with an emphasis in “Trance” and has been playing music professionally for nearly 20 years. SHANEMORRISMUSIC.COM
About Spotted Peccary Music:
Portland-based Spotted Peccary Music is North America’s finest independent record label with a focus on deep, vast and introspective soundscapes. For over three decades, the artists of Spotted Peccary have been on a mission to develop, produce, publish and release ultra-high-quality, deep-listening experiences that engage the listener and exceed expectations. Every release is carefully prepared in a variety of high-quality formats from MP3 to high-res studio masters. In 2023, they were named Best Independent Record Label by the HIMAwards. Explore more than 200 titles and 50 artists released over 38 years of excellence at SpottedPeccary.com and AmbientElectronic.com.
Ochre is part of a new form of tribal hypnotic electronic music evoking the spirits of the oldest of mysteries. Caves can be dangerous places. Fear starts because there is a total absence of light beyond the entrance. Cave systems comprise some of the last unexplored regions on Earth.
Ochre occurs naturally in rocks and soil where ferric minerals have pooled and formed, a naturally occurring pigment that is rich in iron. There are variations in color, yellow ochre, red ochre, purple ochre, sienna, and umber, deep red and an especially bright red pigment the color of blood, hand prints made by blowing pigment over hands pressed against the cave surface, hand stencil-shapes and animal drawings, using multiple colors.
Ochre is the stunning fourth collaborative release on Spotted Peccary Music from veteran artists Frore (Paul Casper) & Shane Morris, and the album takes its name from the reddish-brown petroglyphs in ancient caves. Inspired by these timeless works, revered for ages after those who painted them have perished, Ochre seems to ask the question: “What does it mean to make something that lives on after you’re gone?”
With these collaborations with Frore, Morris has found many ways to imagine this territory. “I believe we both are inspired by archeology and new discoveries, particularly from the prehistoric eras. Witnessing these environments always seem to trigger the imagination of what was and may have been.”
Some of the instruments used by Frore and Shane Morris to create Ochre include analog, digital and modular synthesizers, frame drums, udu, gongs, shaker, and the chromatic flute. An udu is a sort of pear shaped clay jug with a special hole in it, played by slapping one’s palm variously. A frame drum is a drum that has a drumhead width greater than its depth and is possibly one of the most ancient musical instruments, the drumhead is stretched over a round, wooden frame. The synergy between these two instruments, udu and frame drum, are some of the key dynamics to the unique sound of Ochre.
The sound is slowly emerging from the cave to the surface, I hear wooden voices or grumbling. "From Spark to Flame" (8:52), the drums bring order from out of the chaotic jungle and the light increases as the trance boogie gathers, just let it take you up there. Imagine breathing the air that has remained down here from so long ago, and the first who came exploring new areas and discovering "Formations" (5:54), the sustained drone tones that flow in and out flickering shadows on the cave walls as the tones catch and then fade. "Into the Dust" (11:29) expands the frame drum drama, the dancer's circle rotates, extending time through all the changes. I can hear that the echo is deep, and I am helplessly swaying in the tempo. Now a slight metal sound which eventually forms a melodic pattern, all very sparse. "Hidden Meaning" (7:09) goes spiraling into the distances beyond. It takes you there.
With some barking drum beats I think there is much more metal being tapped and allowed to reverberate, flute and sustained echos never dense or cluttered, ferric colors tingle through the atmosphere, the beat takes over and the fires burn providing light, "Ochre" (12:52) carries as the marchers climb the inside of the mountain. I hear a slow growling and ringing that leads into a cosmic abyss, I swear that we are flying somehow, because the air is so big. "Waiting for Eternity" (9:13) until the voices of the cavern dwellers creep into the atmosphere, what music they make!
Our unexplained need as humans to leave something of ourselves behind drives so much of our imagination. To create something that wasn't there before. To draw on a cave or cliff wall 40,000 years ago or record an ambient album in the 21 century and wonder how long your mark will last until it all becomes dust. Our tools can be used to describe sensory events, such as sound, movement, color, shape, or action, sensing concepts or sensing ideas, a union of senses grounded in how we activate concepts. Cave paintings, like the experience of art, can only be individual, and depends on a person's unique knowledge, experiences and history, what it is that remains when experiences induced by the piece are accurately balanced with obvious semantics induced by the same piece. I think this makes the listener both strongly think about and strongly experience a new approach to music.
Frore seeks to fuse technology with historic imagery and sound design. “It never gets old for me, to imagine how far back our ancestors go. The terror of life, but more importantly, the awe they must have felt observing the natural world around them.”
Mastered by Howard Givens, Ochre is available for streaming and downloading, including high resolution studio master formats. The project's images and layout were designed by Daniel Pipitone, Spotted Peccary Studios NE. Experience this digital new release, Ochre, now on your platform of choice: https://orcd.co/ochre-spm and at Bandcamp.
For artist interviews, review copies, or promotional requests, please contact Beth Ann Hilton via beth@spottedpeccary.com
Tracklist:
1 From Spark to Flame
2 Formations
3 Into the Dust
4 Hidden Meaning
5 Ochre
6 Waiting for Eternity
Links:
Music Smartlink: https://orcd.co/ochre-spm
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/xnnVDh5k47Q?si=fj7Jo7b8L_UEL2DZ
Spotted Peccary Album Page: https://spottedpeccary.com/shop/ochre/
Bandcamp: https://frore-shanemorris.bandcamp.com/album/ochre
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spottedpeccary/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spottedpeccary
About Frore:
The music of Frore has been featured on the Hearts of Space radio show, the Star’s End radio show and is frequently played on Stillstream.com, the ambient radio channel among other outlets. Paul has a unique approach to ambient music, always seeking to fuse what he calls “primitive sounds” with current technology. Paul isn’t sure why he uses so many world fusion and tribal sounds in his Frore music project. As a child, he always wanted to discover lost indigenous tribes in the forest, loving the mystery and excitement surrounding such a concept. To Paul, his music makes him realize how nothing much changes with people, that music is a fundamental human impulse and an attempt to make sounds to “fight off the loneliness.”
https://www.facebook.com/Froremusic
About Shane Morris:
Shane Morris is a percussionist, synthesist, and composer of ambient electronic music. Inspired by nature, patterns, and systems, he shapes ethereal realms, polyrhythmic grooves, and tribal soundscapes using a variety of acoustic and electronic instruments, processing, hardware and software. A solo artist since 2008, Shane’s interests span most areas of the ambient genre from dark to light, space to melodic, beatless to beats. Shane is an avid live performer and improvisor playing regularly at City Skies and Electro-Music festivals, as well as numerous live internet performances. He also holds a BA in Anthropology and Music with an emphasis in “Trance” and has been playing music professionally for nearly 20 years. SHANEMORRISMUSIC.COM
About Spotted Peccary Music:
Portland-based Spotted Peccary Music is North America’s finest independent record label with a focus on deep, vast and introspective soundscapes. For over three decades, the artists of Spotted Peccary have been on a mission to develop, produce, publish and release ultra-high-quality, deep-listening experiences that engage the listener and exceed expectations. Every release is carefully prepared in a variety of high-quality formats from MP3 to high-res studio masters. In 2023, they were named Best Independent Record Label by the HIMAwards. Explore more than 200 titles and 50 artists released over 38 years of excellence at SpottedPeccary.com and AmbientElectronic.com.
