Chris Martin and Natalie Imbruglia

 

2009 started off with a very unexpected job. Brian Eno was working with Coldplay, and was experimenting recording the band without Chris Martin. He asked if I wouldn't mind recording Chris while he worked on material for Natalie Imbruglia's new album. I said I wouldn't mind.

 

I wasn't sure what to expect, but engineering Chris turned out to be a case of trying to catch the enormous number of ideas that fly out of him. Most of the engineering projects I've worked on for Brian have been a case of pressing 'start' and then 'stop' several hours later when the musicians have finished improvising. Chris was recording short songs, constantly trying out new ideas, and it kept me on my toes.

 

As the session went on, Natalie came in from time to time to try the songs out. 'Fun' in particular was beautiful, one of Chris's finest, I think. Finally Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams, expecting to be working on a completely different project, and picked up and developed the tracks with extraordinary speed. I've worked with a lot of talented musicians, but Jon and Leo are something of a class apart.

 

Both Chris and Natalie went out of their way to make feel welcome, and the session was as enjoyable as it was unexpected. The album is due out in October... I'm not sure if anything from the demos made it into the final version.

 

http://www.peterchilvers.com/news.php#chrismartin

 

 

4/Clockwork Cosmos (11:32) (From Peter's Downloads page)

 

Time to up the pretension and throw in a few shamefully blatant name drops to boot... This piece uses only the notes of the "Mystic Chord" invented by the Russian composer Scriabin, and consisting of the notes C, F#, Bb, E, A and D. I heard about the chord while I was working for Brian Eno earlier this year. Chris Martin telephoned, and I ended up playing the notes down the 'phone while Brian described it to him. Maybe that means there will be a Coldplay track that only Scriabin could hum along to some time.

 

Scriabin believed this chord, in conjunction with the right combination of colours, could bring about a cosmic change. I'm not convinced that happened when I played this, although I did get a craving for chocolate hobnobs.

 

http://www.peterchilvers.com/downloads_december2007.php

 

NB. There is a download link to Clockwork Cosmos on the page I've linked to above. The suggested price is £0.50 / $1.

Thanks for posting! :nice:

Great find, man. (:

Interesting, thanks :D

Brilliant find! Thanks for posting! :P

Peter Chilvers: Musician and studio engineer talks about CM, Natalie I. and the "Mystic Chord"

 

Thanks for posting! :)