Whilst many people during Lockdown were learning how to make sourdough bread or transforming their gardens into thriving vegetable patches, Isle of Wight musicians and producers, Jim and Rob Homes, were creating their own masterpiece.
The brothers, known for Jackson Analogue, Studio Luka, Boe Weaver, Studio Humbug and most latterly Empire Sound, wrote and recorded an album for KPM Music.
What’s KPM Music?
Now part of Sony Music Publishing, KPM was founded over 200 years ago (in 1780), and creates library music for use in all manner of things: films, television, radio and online media.
Jim says that in true KPM style, their new album has a very long name, “The Van Patterson Group : Experiments in Psychedelia”.
Pictures in music
The album is made up of 11 main tracks, which stretches to 75 when you include all the variations, which all have a great 60s feel about them.
Described as “authentic psych rock, full of fuzzy guitars, saturated drums, boisterous brass and trippy soundscapes”, listening to the tracks you can just imagine the film scenes they’d fit: from fast-paced car chases, to smooth operators in a jazz club.
How did it come about?
The Homes brothers have worked with KPM for many years, but have never created a stand alone album for them.
Jim explained to News OnTheWight,
“A discussion during Lockdown resulted in KPM commissioning a recording based on a group that we briefly formed with former Jackson Analogue members (the Van Patterson Quartet).
“Borrowing the name (kind of) we went about recording the album with a set of Isle of Wight-based principal musicians.”
Taking part in the creation were some well-known names: Rupert Brown, Tim Parkin, Andy Parkin, Peter Corney, Mike Holdcroft and Samuel H James.
Where does the inspiration come from?
As we listened through the album we wondered how the brothers went about composing the music and asked whether they have specific scenes in mind or watch anything for inspiration.
Jim said,
“We’ve been known to watch all kinds of things while we work on music, but generally it’s something animated and from the 1980s.”
Wet Lips Sinks Ship
The names of the tracks also fascinated us. They include titles such as Wet Lips Sinks Ships and The Wicker Witch.
Jim added,
“I’d love to tell you the names are something that we sit around for days worrying about, truth is they’re mostly buzz words that have stuck in our minds while the track is forming. ‘Wizard is about to die’, for example, is a direct quote from the arcade game ‘Gauntlet’.“
Our kind of random
A genuinely eclectic duo, Jim says they think very little about anything outside of the music.
“We’re as random as the music suggests.”
Well, it’s the kind of random that we at News OnTheWight love. All praise to Jim and Rob, as well as to all the musicians who took part in the project.
Have a listen to the tracks and you never know, you might recognise them being used in a feature film, or TV advert in the near future.
And there’s more
Apart from giving the brothers valuable work through Lockdown, creating the album for KPM has had other upsides too.
Jim and Rob landed a job to work on a new cartoon score for LA company ‘Chromosphere’ (see below).
Here’s to more successes for the brothers in the future.
