Foggy Day

In the fall of 2010 the Gorillaz were touring America in support of their Plastic Beach album. Back of the tourbus, David Albarn picks up his ipad and creates a whole new album. Yes, on his ipad. He plays with apps like SoundyThingy, iOrgel HD and  Dub Siren Pro, then creates sonic postcards of the everchaching landscape of America. Creations like “Aspen Forest” and “California and The Slipping of The Sun” are deceptively simple, yet so multi-layered and eccentric, you could have them on a loop and still discover new soundscapes whilst wondering “Wow, they have an app for that?” My favorite is the contemplative “Revolving Doors” with its hypnotic “foggy day” mantra at the heart of it. In a cafe in Boston, the Beatles play in the background and Albarn wonders “Revolving doors, what have I done?” All this with an air of bewilderment and almost regret. Another creative genius, artist David Hockney has picked up his ipad and created “instant” paintings , which Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation in Paris has exhibited in a first art installation of its kind. This “one click technology” makes creating seem deceptively simple. Maybe it is, but to produce that masterpiece, I guess you still have to be some kind of virtuoso to do so. No matter how many apps I download, there are no works of genius coming from my ipad anytime soon.