Melissa Grey & David Morneau, Robert Kirkbride - Always Becoming
Melissa Grey & David Morneau are composers and producers who design music based around elemental themes like time, space, nature, language and dance; the duo share music under the name Flower Cat. Additionally, Robert Kirkbride is a designer, musician, author, and professor who explores the interplay of memory, ornament, and placemaking. Today we are excited to share our thoughts on their upcoming album, Always Becoming, due for release on March 7, 2023!
Always Becoming, which is comprised of entirely instrumental pieces, opens with “Being” and this song serves as an incredible introduction to the album. Calling the soundscape presented in this song “rich” or “textured” would be accurate summations but using just those words would undersell just how many layers and sounds there are to get lost in and just how much ear candy there is to appreciate. “Always” is the second song and it has such a deep, bordering on dark kind of feeling to it - almost an emptiness. I feel connections to space and time while listening to this song, feelings quite befitting its title, and there is a certain vastness in the way this song feels that left me with sensations of yearning.
The third song from Always Becoming is “Ever”, which continues the space/time vibes from its predecessor and expands on them. I found this song to have a more reflective feel than “Always”, almost as if this song is designed to be an examination of “Always” in addition to being its sequel. Even if I am missing the point of this song, it stands on its own as a deep and reflective piece. “Becoming” closes out the album. This song has a kind of evolutionary feel about it and it changes and grows throughout its over five-minute duration. I was quite impressed with the feelings of growth and development that this song left me feeling; the message that I derived from it is that change is inevitable but that it can be a good thing.
I cannot say enough about the kind of journey you will go on while listening to the songs from Always Becoming. These songs will assuredly make you think and feel deeply, and if you are like me, in an intense manner. Even the album’s single-word song titles encourage an introspective perspective to listening to match the introspective soundscapes within. These songs are designed to be played in an endless loop and I found it easy to get lost in the cycle that they present. Each song has its own distinctive soundscape that projects into the minds of the listener, giving the kind of experience that borders on spiritual.
Grey, Morneau and Kirkbride all shared the composition work on this album, while Grey and Morneau handled all aspects of production, recording and mixing/mastering. Kirkbride performs the guitars on the album while Grey handles guitar feedback and theremin, as well as Morneau on trombone. Adding to Kirkbride’s contribution to the album are nine hand-drawn pictures and an essay. It is quite amazing how these three talented artists have come together to make such a profound collection of songs - a true can’t-miss album.
In the end, Always Becoming is a one of a kind experience and I cannot wait for you all to enjoy it. You can keep up with Melissa Grey & David Morneau through the Flower Cat website, Instagram and YouTube pages and Robert Kirkbride through his website. We have Always Becoming embedded below via Bandcamp - make sure you pre-order this special album ahead of its release on March 7, 2023!
