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Gates of Gnomeria, released September 10, 2007, is Andy McKee's fourth studio album. This album features six new tracks, two of which ("I'll Be Over You" and "Venus as a Girl") are covers. "7-14," "A Sphere," "Ouray," "All Laid Back and Stuff" and "She" were all first seen on Andy's independent debut, Nocturne, which is out of print; these versions are vastly superior in terms of recording quality to their 2001 incarnations. The album's title track was leaked months beforehand and re-uploaded in promotion for the album. Jeff Schmidt is listed as an accompanying artist on "A Sphere" and "Dependant Arising."
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Andy's Comments
The album booklet, once again, contains Andy's thoughts on each song.
| # |
Title |
Comment |
| 1 |
"The Gates of Gnomeria" |
A tune inspired by my inner-geek, for sure! This song is inspired by the likes of Tolkien, The Elder Scrolls, Warcraft, and Dungeons and Dragons. I wanted to tell an aural tale of some adventurers traveling through caverns to a deep dark place in the heart of the earth. Their journey takes them to a subterranean city of magic ruled by gnomes called "Gnomeria," where spells and technologies have evolved outside of human influence. I hope you can see it! |
| 2 |
"I'll Be Over You" |
I kind of got hooked on the melody of this tune so I wound up trying to arrange it for solo guitar. This is my second arrangement of a 1980s tune and it just happens to be by Toto, like the last one as well! |
| 3 |
"7-14" |
For my life-long friend Jacob and his wife Kim. July 14th is their wedding day. |
| 4 |
"A Sphere" |
Inspired by a flawless shape. |
| 5 |
"Ouray" |
I once took a spring vacation with some friends to a remote Colorado village named Ouray. It was such a beautiful and inspiring place, located in the San Juan Mountains. |
| 6 |
"All Laid Back and Stuff" |
Like nearly all of my tunes, I was having a hard time naming this one. I played it for a friend and he said "That's all laid back and stuff." I agreed. |
| 7 |
"Nakagawa-san" |
A dedication to the steel-string forefather of Japan, Isato Nakagawa. Isato invited me to perform with him and Masaaki Kishibe in Japan back in 2005. It was such an honor and I absolutely loved the culture and people. In this tune I tried to emulate parts of Isato's style, particularly his guitar vibrato, by shaking the entire guitar. |
| 8 |
"Dependant Arising" |
Dependant Arising is a term I have seen in a few books while studying Buddhism. From my understanding, it basically means that for anything to come into existence, it is dependant on every other thing in the universe. I think it is a pretty profound and accurate view of life as we know it. |
| 9 |
"Venus as a Girl" |
This is an arrangement of one of my absolute favorite songs by Icelandic singer Björk. Originally, the song is titled "Venus as a Boy." I really love all the textures and there is such a smooth melody in there. This is the first tune where I have abandoned the solo guitar path. There are around 10 tracks of guitar on this one! |
| 10 |
"She" |
For my fiancee, Christine. |
| 11 |
"Ebon Coast" |
The sonic opposite of Ivory Coast. This is the first tune I composed on my acoustic baritone guitar. |
[edit] External links
Gates of Gnomeria at CANdYRAT Records
