Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts/ CineMedia Promotions) Lakeshore Records will release Rod Abernethy's new album, entitled The Upward Turn digitally on January 29, 2013. Abernethy has earned numerous awards for his video game work on such titles as RAGE, Dead Space, The Hobbit, TERA an Dead Head Fred.
Though best known for his works composing for the game world, it was the real world that inspired The Upward Turn. "I love recording found objects," said Abernethy, "creating unexpected tones and rhythms from everyday items that aren't normally considered 'musical'."
"Many of these tracks started as a simple idea of recording a single sound of a found object and manipulating, time stretching and pitch shifting it. Then I layer these sounds with acoustic and virtual software instruments," Abernethy described.
Award-winning composer and musician Rod Abernethy crafts authentic and memorable music scores for visual media including video games, advertising and television. His rich musical repertoire encompasses traditional acoustic and ethnic scores, unique hybrid soundtracks fusing electronic and organic elements, as well as dramatic music written for orchestra and choir.
Abernethy's music-for-picture traverses multiple genres while maintaining an authenticity, originality and integrity which he customizes for each project. He is perhaps best known for his acoustic and electronic instrumentation combined with cinematic scoring. The dark, action-orchestral score for RAGE (Bethesda Softworks). The edgy, action-driven score for WHEELMAN (Tigon Studios) starring Vin
Diesel immerses players into the Barcelona setting with flamenco orchestrations. The eclectic and sublime atmospheric score for DEAD HEAD FRED (Soundtrack available on iTunes), inspired by the game's 'twisted noir' setting, blends cinematic orchestrations with a dark panorama of jazz, southwestern guitar, ambient, rock fusion and other seemingly disparate music styles into a cohesive and alluring listening experience. The critically acclaimed score for THE HOBBIT, combining traditional Celtic music with sweeping orchestra, won G.A.N.G.'s Best
Soundtrack Award.
His music productions enhance numerous high profile video games such as RAGE, DEAD SPACE, ALPHA PROTOCOL, TERA, EAT LEAD, WHEELMAN, DEAD HEAD FRED, THE HOBBIT and RISE OF THE KASAI as well as promotional trailers for DARKSIDERS, WARHAWK, LINEAGE II and PRINCE OF PERSIA. Rod's music has also been featured in programming for major networks including ABC, CBS, Discovery Channel, ESPN, Fox, G4, HBO, Nickelodeon, TLC and PBS. As a signed artist he has recorded in major studios around the world for record industry giants Warner Bros., Elektra, Atlantic, and MCA Records and collaborated with legendary producers Paul Rothchild (The Doors, Bonnie Raitt), John Anthony (Roxy Music, Queen) and
David Lord (Peter Gabriel, Tori Amos,
Tears for Fears, The Pretenders).
A music graduate from the University of North Carolina, Rod maintains a cutting-edge recording studio facility that boasts an extensive collection of vintage amps, guitars and mics. Rod is a voting member of The
National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS). He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), the non-profit organization dedicated to promoting game audio, as well as a Peer Panelist for the Academy of
Interactive Arts & Sciences (A.I.A.S). He is a frequent and prominent speaker at the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, and was the Keynote speaker at the Montreal International Games Summit- 2012 in Montreal, Canada.
Lakeshore Records presents Rod Abernethy The Upward Turn, available digitally on January 29, 2013.
Rod Abernethy
The Upward Turn
Track by track analysis:
01. A Clean Break
These days, I've been doing a lot of sampling and manipulating of found objects. I was playing around with a melody with bell sounds and they started sounding like an intro to something...like they were a signal of sorts. The piece evolved into a bed for an imaginary soundtrack, as if I were escaping from something that was threatening...not a quick and racing escape, but a slow and stealthful departure. Sneaking away and undetected until I finally made it in the clear.
02. The Upward Turn
To me, this track is the turning point from having traveled downward into the unknown and making a sudden, hopeful turn into the light of hope and confidence. I use a combination of found object sampling, virtual and hardware synths and mangled, glitched-out percussion samples.
Heavy percussion and then the orchestra marks the beginning and struggle of the turn.
03.
Seven Times Five
A very abstract and melancholy exercise in melody, space and form.
04. It Looks Like A Warning
I imagined a "call to arms", but not in a loud and forceful way. A subtle message but extremely urgent, as if it's time to make that important personal decision...it's most likely uninvited and life threatening.
05. Blue Day
Black Night
I was thinking of a war time infiltration behind enemy lines...most likely a covert mission to save someone. I used electric guitar a lot in this track with echoes, reverse playback, layering, heavy distorted chords and guitar chiming ring-outs. I use orchestra here sparingly at first and then build up and release the tension. The track has a final release...I guess the mission was a success?
06. Later That Night
I love the sound of acoustic piano and guitar together. This track is a dialogue of those two instruments... imagine them being two lost souls and what might be the outcome.
07. Twisting Truth
My rock roots come out here but with a twist, using various dynamic cello samples thanks to the sampling geniuses at 8dio Productions. The title came to me as I was composing, sometimes I don't question why or how I come up with a song name…I usually stick with the first thing that comes to mind.
08. Three Chapters
My heart belongs to the acoustic guitar. Here I play many stringed instruments, but the guitar carries the ball through three scenes taken from an imaginary story in three parts. The first part is an intro and invitation; the second is carefree, relaxed and unbound; the third is a confrontation leading into a final goodbye, most likely the end of a relationship.
09. The Upward Turn - Part 2
Basically an afterthought to the original. The track rocks harder than the others with the use of traditional rock elements and fades out with the original melody of the first Upward Turn track.
10. Short Stories
Using granular synthesis and drones along with percussion samples of found objects, I weave in and out of simple melodies and rhythms...sort of like short ideas tied together into one piece.
