By Keith Walsh
In addition to finding inspiration in love and heartache, synth pop artists are motivated to create by their musical equipment – which in many cases is vintage gear.
On the occasion of the release of Memory Box, I chatted with Rodney Cromwell about the inspiration he finds in analog synthesizers, and was intrigued to hear about his dirty secret – that after experimenting with other DAWs, he finds the perfect synthesis of creativity and technology in an older version of Garageband.
Cromwell told me: “I hate it when anyone asks me about software because it forces me to expose my dirty secrets. So the album was written and sequenced in Garageband; not any old Garageband but a really old version – version 11 which must be a decade old by now . When I commenced writing the album I started writing in Ableton Live but I was just coming out with all this crummy looped stuff that just bored me. So I moved into Logic Pro for a bit, but I just got bogged down playing around with effects and not writing any decent tunes. So I moved back to my old ancient Garageband, that has just a few plugins.”
Cromwell uses vintage Moog, ARP and Korg synths on Memory Box. Despite the romantic vision of technology inspiring creativity, Cromwell has a more utilitarian view of Garageband. “It’s just a recording tool that I use to record all my old synths in,” he writes. “I like working within limitations; I learned to record using 4 track tape players and I like having something basic that you squeeze everything you can out of. The album wasn’t mixed in Garageband of course, it was mixed in Pro Tools, I’m not a total philistine.”
Memory Box is out now on Happy Robots Records. It’s a poppy, retro synth experience with lots of trippy, lo-fi features and stellar songwriting, and sounds ranging from Krautrock to dance pop. Cromwell’s reading of absurdism and magical realism informs the themes, mixing beats with philosophy. Recorded in London and mixed in New York by Rich Bennett and mastered by Pete Maher, Memory Box is available on all streaming platforms.
Rodney Cromwell Website
Rodney Cromwell on Bandcamp
Rodney Cromwell on Facebook
Rodney Cromwell On Twitter
Rodney Cromwell On Instagram
Rodney Cromwell On Spotify
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