Twelfth and final in a 2022 project of monthly releases. December - wasn't it January just now??

"12X22" has been my musical year with twelve moons. It started as a half-witted idea to have something fun and productive to look forward to every month. Also, as a deadline junkey, I wanted (needed) time limits to release every album before the end of each month.

It turned out to be one-track-albums, long electronic pieces composed on modular synth. Listening music, lay-down-mental-music, my favorite kind of music. I wanted to, modestly, jump into the same deep water where the legends and pioneers created their long form works: Pauline Oliveros, Ákos Rózmann, Roland Kayn, Eliane Radigue..... And Jim O'Rourke, for me a true inspiration with his daring, long form pieces released on his "Steamroom". The open landscapes where sounds and music can tell a story, grow, evolve, dissolve, mate, play, evaporate.

The idea for "December" came from a concert-installation I did in December 2019 at the music store Ödmans Musik in Gothenburg. I had been invited by sound artist Dan Fröberg and his label Outerdisk to interpret some Christmas songs on modular synth. A generous invitation. Equipped with my Buchla Music Easel, eurorack modulars, contact microphones and, as a central character, ice cubes and a hydrophone inside a glass of our much loved Swedish "julmust" (Christmas root beer), An adventurous afternoon, I recall, improvising on modules, objects, ice cubes, julmust and, on the Easel, playing snippets from loads of Christmas carols and other evergreens for the season.

Naturally the hydrophone-in-julmust had to be brought alive for this piece. Also the Christmas carols, played on eurorack modules only. The juxtaposition of Christian and profane songs had no important value, more than the fascinating sounding memories that two, three or four tones can evoke. Not particularly looking for nostalgia or romanticism, but I have no problem with that.

And so, this "December" is the final of my monthly musically reports and completes "12X22" . It's been an adventure, a joy, a crazy burden. Foolish and stressful. Also an opportunity, for me, to explore sound and what music can be and be built upon. Freedom, I suppose. What a gift.

Thanks, hope you enjoy.

Sven Rånlund, Gothenburg, December 30, 2022.