Subtle Sounds

Slow Clinic is my own, personal musical outlet. My name is James Edward Armstrong, and I make ambient & drone music.

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https://soundcloud.com/slow-clinic/alright-for-now

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https://soundcloud.com/slow-clinic/blackwater-resonance

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My album, 'Accidentals' is now available in full for streaming and free download. The album consists of lengthy, evolving and improvised guitar drones supported by a bed of field recordings and vinyl noise.

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Here is an excerpt from my upcoming single, 'Solstice', and will be released in a very limited run of CDs with a handmade/painted cover.

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Written in December 2013, shortly before embarking on a spontaneous trip to Seattle, WA. 'On Wanting' & 'On Needing' are the first two long paying tracks on my upcoming album, 'Accidentals (16/06/2014). Here is an early unmastered preview of the two tracks.

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I will be self-releasing a very limited number of CD singles in with handmade cover art. This release will be in celebration of this year's Summer Solstice, and will be made available June 21st.

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Taken in Seattle, WA. This is the location that the field recording underneath 'On Leaving' were captured. I've always been able to relax when near the sea, and watching larger cargo ships slowly drift by in the distance is a bonus. I chose this image as the cover for my album, 'Accidentals', as it represents the sounds and nature of my work well. You can hear previews of this album here:

On Leaving/On Missing

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Putting my 'new' Roland JV-1080 to good use, with added field recordings and manipulated guitar.

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Earlier this week, a Roland Super JV-1080 arrived in perfect condition. This machine will be providing a majority of the string, pad and vocal sounds on my next release. I've found in the past, that a new piece of gear, whatever it is, can really help to unleash a little hidden creativity. In the past, it has been old string machines, new effect pedals, a dedicated field recorder and a crusty second hand delay module.

The synth module has been used by some of the most forward thinking electronic music producers, as well as countless film, TV and game score composers (Hans Zimmer and Vangelis).

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Slow Clinic - Turning

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Although 'Sirens at the Etap' was not the first Slow Clinic song to be recorded, it was the first to be written. One night, whilst away at university, I sat and watched a mass of police cars and ambulances pull up outside of an Etap hotel in Cardiff. Shortly after, in the early hours of the morning I came up with this.

The field recordings are taken from the Cardiff Bay area and an art gallery in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

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Slow Clinic - 'Ffarwel Caerdydd (Farewell Cardiff)'

My first piece of of music uploaded as Slow Clinic. Although this wasn't the first piece written, it acts as my introduction in many ways. The field recordings that provide a backing to this track were recorded at Mermaid Quay at around 5am. The instrumental parts themselves were recorded the night I started packing up my room to return home and complete my practical research.

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'Good Luck, Wor Kid' - The opening track to my debut EP, 'First Works'. The title comes from something an old workmate said before I left to pursue a career in music.

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A long playing piece of music I recorded for a good friend's drama project; required to create a sense of peacefulness. It's simply a single, improvised performance of multiple synthesizers linked up via MIDI. If I was to play live, I'd probably be performing similar things.

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An old 'work in progress' that never really progressed past this point. It was made with a single acoustic guitar part and a collage of vinyl noise.

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Please, if you’ve got a second, follow Breaking Beauty's other social networks & reblog this post! Breaking Beauty is a photographic project dedicated to breaking the vision of an ideal human form, promoting all inclusive beauty and body positivity.

”Beauty has no size, it has no shape, it has no gender, it has no race.” - Breaking Beauty Project.

Use #projectbreakingbeauty on Twitter and Instagram to be featured on the interactive section of www.breakingbeauty.co.uk

@breakingbeautyproject on Instagram

@projectbb_uk on Twitter

www.facebook.com/breakingbeautyproject

and view our interactive gallery, featuring user submitted content and all of Breaking Beauty’s social media posts at www.breakingbeauty.co.uk

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This is a project I'm really honored to be a part of. The project is dedicated to expressing body positivity and to promote unconventional beauty.

As the Breaking Beauty Project develops, some of my music will be used at an eventual exhibition.