Leon Alvarado will release a short film and soundtrack called Persistence this month.
The instrumentalist issues the film, which is described as “a short adventure of sight and sound,” on December 15. The soundtrack single features King Crimson’s Trey Gunn, and was mastered by Andy Jackson who co-produced Pink Floyd album, The Endless River.
Alvarado says: “The film takes its own point of view at the chaotic pace that’s involved in our every-day life as a global society. The point of the film is to look at the mostly man-made chaos and contrast it with nature’s own process of going through time.
“In order to make the point, I changed the context of events so that the viewer can appreciate them from a different perspective. The music is an evolution from my last CD which was titled 2014 Music From An Expanded Universe and wasn’t recorded to fit the film but the other way around. I have always felt that my music is very cinematic in scope and making a film out of one of the pieces would be a natural move on my part.”
The soundtrack features two pieces of music, with the title track Persistence derived from an idea Alvarado had during the sessions for 2014 Music From An Expanded Universe.
He says: “I was aiming at a percussion track that had a heavy improvisational feel to it and yet, kept a structure from which we could build on. Even though I somehow managed to keep it all in time and with a somewhat logical sense of phrasing, the overall sound came out a bit confusing and we couldn’t get the rest of the instruments to quite develop their own parts until I reworked the drums and percussion.
“In the end it all worked out fine and we were able to move forward. After a few months, I went back into the studio and expanded the piece.”
