Bandcamp: https://cyclicaldreams.bandcam…n-cyd-0134
Distant Moon is a beautiful album with warm overtones and soft synth elements with rich and full sound. The intertwining of two like minded musical talents are highlighted on this release. It was born out of a shared love and vision of our mutual interest in the cosmos and creativity. The album is themed around abstract space ideas we have often discussed, so it is a musical painting of our individual and joint imagination and visions. Jamie had been recording some lovely ambient guitar on his own projects and I felt it was the perfect addition to accompany my spacey soundscapes. We wanted to keep this production simple and minimalistic yet with focus on feeling and expression. The dynamics of this collaboration are simply live ambient synth recordings from my studio with Jamie’s guitar overdubbed in real time from his studio over in the UK. He would play the guitar and record the 1st thing that came to mind while listening to each track and that is how all 10 tracks were created. Jamie used his self built Fender Strat hybrid guitar on most tracks with the exception of Crystal Space Caverns when he used an Ibanez Jem 7. He uses a chain of mostly analogue fx pedals and a couple of digital ones to create and shape his sound. The most dominant was his Watkins IC400 vintage tape echo, yet during these recording sessions the signal was split via a Roland RE-20 space echo set on the slowest speed into 2 channels, one of which went into the IC400 and the other to a T-Rex replica, so 3 delays in total (: Analogue Hiss, pops crackle and 50 cycle hum add to the organics of our creation. Jamie tends to use A=432hz tuning and during this collaboration my music was tuned to match this cosmic key (: On the Track Celestial Om, Jamie sent me a recording of one of his singing bowls with natural tones that are around A=432hz. I matched this frequency with my Hewlett Packard vacuum tube type signal generator model 200ABr. This gave some nice effect where it cancels out the bowl sound and phases in and out.
Instruments used by John Scott Shepherd for this release include: Roland JDX-i, Behringer Deepmind 12, Roland TB-3, and the Korg Kaossilator Pro.
Instruments used by Jamie Zarfas for this release include: Fender Stratocaster, Ibanez Jem 77P. FX pedals as follows in order Morley Volume, Jim Dunlop Cry Baby Wah, T-Rex pedals Comp-Nova compression & Alberta overdrive, Jim Dunlop Fuzz-Face, T-Rex Room-Mate & Octavius, Small stone phaser, Digitech Wammy, Roland RE-20 Tape Echo left Channel out into T-Rex Replica Delay and Right channel out into Watkins IC-400, each of which fed into L&R Roland Sl20 Slicer and finally stereo out into EHX Oceans 12 Dual Reverb stereo out direct to mixer. Singing bowls.
All Tracks recorded live March/April 2025, Music performed and produced in collaboration by John Shepherd and Jamie Zarfas
John Shepherd: City, Kewadin State: Michigan U.S.A.
Jamie Zarfas : City, Lincolnshire: United Kingdom.
Synthesizer music performed live by John Shepherd in his home studio, Guitar recorded live by Jamie Zarfas in his home studio. Synthesizer arrangements and mixing by John Shepherd, Final arrangement Mix and Mastering by Jamie Zarfas.
credits
released June 13, 2025
Artwork: Cyclical Dreams
Photography: Amp Puttipong
fb: amp.puttipong
John Scott Shepherd on Cyclical Dreams:
Corridors of the Mind: cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/corridors-of-the-mind-cyd-0108
Steps To The Stars: cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/steps-to-the-stars-cyd-0086
Realms Beyond: cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/realms-beyond-cyd-0039
Legends of Mars: cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/legends-of-mars-cyd-0065
Distant Moon is a beautiful album with warm overtones and soft synth elements with rich and full sound. The intertwining of two like minded musical talents are highlighted on this release. It was born out of a shared love and vision of our mutual interest in the cosmos and creativity. The album is themed around abstract space ideas we have often discussed, so it is a musical painting of our individual and joint imagination and visions. Jamie had been recording some lovely ambient guitar on his own projects and I felt it was the perfect addition to accompany my spacey soundscapes. We wanted to keep this production simple and minimalistic yet with focus on feeling and expression. The dynamics of this collaboration are simply live ambient synth recordings from my studio with Jamie’s guitar overdubbed in real time from his studio over in the UK. He would play the guitar and record the 1st thing that came to mind while listening to each track and that is how all 10 tracks were created. Jamie used his self built Fender Strat hybrid guitar on most tracks with the exception of Crystal Space Caverns when he used an Ibanez Jem 7. He uses a chain of mostly analogue fx pedals and a couple of digital ones to create and shape his sound. The most dominant was his Watkins IC400 vintage tape echo, yet during these recording sessions the signal was split via a Roland RE-20 space echo set on the slowest speed into 2 channels, one of which went into the IC400 and the other to a T-Rex replica, so 3 delays in total (: Analogue Hiss, pops crackle and 50 cycle hum add to the organics of our creation. Jamie tends to use A=432hz tuning and during this collaboration my music was tuned to match this cosmic key (: On the Track Celestial Om, Jamie sent me a recording of one of his singing bowls with natural tones that are around A=432hz. I matched this frequency with my Hewlett Packard vacuum tube type signal generator model 200ABr. This gave some nice effect where it cancels out the bowl sound and phases in and out.
Instruments used by John Scott Shepherd for this release include: Roland JDX-i, Behringer Deepmind 12, Roland TB-3, and the Korg Kaossilator Pro.
Instruments used by Jamie Zarfas for this release include: Fender Stratocaster, Ibanez Jem 77P. FX pedals as follows in order Morley Volume, Jim Dunlop Cry Baby Wah, T-Rex pedals Comp-Nova compression & Alberta overdrive, Jim Dunlop Fuzz-Face, T-Rex Room-Mate & Octavius, Small stone phaser, Digitech Wammy, Roland RE-20 Tape Echo left Channel out into T-Rex Replica Delay and Right channel out into Watkins IC-400, each of which fed into L&R Roland Sl20 Slicer and finally stereo out into EHX Oceans 12 Dual Reverb stereo out direct to mixer. Singing bowls.
All Tracks recorded live March/April 2025, Music performed and produced in collaboration by John Shepherd and Jamie Zarfas
John Shepherd: City, Kewadin State: Michigan U.S.A.
Jamie Zarfas : City, Lincolnshire: United Kingdom.
Synthesizer music performed live by John Shepherd in his home studio, Guitar recorded live by Jamie Zarfas in his home studio. Synthesizer arrangements and mixing by John Shepherd, Final arrangement Mix and Mastering by Jamie Zarfas.
credits
released June 13, 2025
Artwork: Cyclical Dreams
Photography: Amp Puttipong
fb: amp.puttipong
John Scott Shepherd on Cyclical Dreams:
Corridors of the Mind: cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/corridors-of-the-mind-cyd-0108
Steps To The Stars: cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/steps-to-the-stars-cyd-0086
Realms Beyond: cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/realms-beyond-cyd-0039
Legends of Mars: cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/legends-of-mars-cyd-0065