Have a keyboard and computer? It Could Be Franky
Have a First Listen to We All Know How This Will End, by It Could Be Franky
"It Could Be Franky has opened up a whole other world of music to me," said Danielle Hamel, who uses that quirky stage name for her electronic music projects.
We Know How All This Will End, It Could Be Franky's second album, is a collection of Hamel's favourite alternative pop tunes, as interpreted through electronic instruments.
Love at first sound
Hamel has played keyboards and sung in bands since 2002, but said she has always enjoyed listening to electronic music.
She decided to try her hand at it for the Newfoundland and Labrador RPM Challenge a few years back.
Hamel creates a song for It Could Be Franky by playing a musical line on her keyboard.
Then she feeds each recorded line into a software program on her computer, which turns the sound into a synthesized instrument.
Hamel then manipulates and layers each line of sound, records it into the computer, listens back in real time and makes adjustments, eventually winding up with a finished song.
She said it was love at first sound.
"It's like drawing it in."
Hear It Could Be Franky break down the creation of a track
Hearing the arpeggios
We Know How All This Will End is a collection of It Could Be Franky's favourite alternative pop tunes, re-imagined as electronic compositions.
Hamel picked some of her favourite songs, and songs that would lend themselves to different styles.
"If I listen to a song and I can hear the arpeggios over it, then I want it," said Hamel.
It Could Be Franky has opened up a whole other world of music to me.- Danielle Hamel
It Could Be Franky might be computer-based music, but Hamel has figured out how to do live performances of the new album.
Her stage setup consists of a sound board which triggers specific sounds and effects, and her keyboard, which she plays live.
"I perform whatever part is humanly playable."
Do you have a new album of music that Weekend AM should know about for First Listen? Email us wam@cbc.ca and tell us about it.
You can hear First Listen on Sundays on Weekend AM from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. (5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in most of Labrador) on CBC Radio One.
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