About the project 'Words Hidden In Music'
Words Hidden In Music (WHIM), is a project started by Swedish born guitarplayer Marcus Sundquist.
- influences and concept
The original concept of the WHIM was to blend guitar music with new age/meditation style music. The first songs were influenced by the new age group Enigma (and Jean Michel Jarre, Mike Oldfield). The main influence was the way Enigma made their songs overlap. This was a recurring feature in WHIM:s first project with the same name, 'Words Hidden In Music', (originally called 'Esoteric Dreams'). The theme of this piece is the non scientific explanations (i.e. religious or occult) of a phenomenon called 'sleeping paralysis'. It is divided in six parts:
Words Hidden In Music
1. 'Astral Flight'
2. 'A Thread Of Silver'
3. 'Music Without Words Speaks'
4. 'A Vanished String'
5. 'Guidance'
6. 'No Light But Silence'
To this comes a poem or a riddle:
I.Not asleep, not awake
II. A thread made of silver is the only life line.
III. Words that used to be hidden in music is now visable.
- Can not sleep, can not wake up-
IV. The silver thread vanishes. Lost between worlds without initiation,
V. With the guidance of A Crow the unsolved mystery is revealed:
VI. There is no light, but darkness. No gate nor tunnel, no cherub
guarding a forbidden path.
There is nothing but silence ...
The first parts' main theme is inspired by Jarre's use of the theremin. The guitar used to imitate the sound of the theremin is a Pacifica with a sustainer pickup.
Guitar talk
The guitar works on this session is mainly done by a cheap Yamaha Pacifica with a Fernandes Sustainer (modified by Uwe), which can be heard in the sample. For heavier stuff a Burny Les Paul custom (with a Dimarzio pickup in the bridge position, and a VH1 in neck) has been used.
The acoustic guitars: Dean (black), and a nylon string modell Valencia.
The guitar used on 'Veil of Ignorance' is a hard tail strat, with a Dimarzio HS-3 pickup in bridge and a standard single coil in neck pos.
- amps and effects
The main amp used for all the music recorded by WHIM is a 15W Micro Cube. The amp is then lined directly into the computers soundcard.
Effect pedals are: YJM overdrive, BOSS DS-1, Behringer Noise Supressor, Cry Baby Wah-Wah, Ibanez Bass compressor.
- settings
The amp dist level varies depending on the guitars being used. When the Yamaha guitar is used the dist. is set on 100% for rythm and various "crazy sounds" and melodies. In solos the amp dist. is set on 50% with an 'extra push over the cliff' provided by the YJM or the DS-1, which are set on 50% as well.
When the Les Paul is used the amp dist. is set on 100%.