Here are 3 recent home-recordings featuring handpan in completely different musical genres:
"Neptune" came about as I was experimenting with reverb and effects on my new Boreal handpan, looking for a delayed and distant sound. It made me think of the quiet vastness of space. Inspired by this theme, I browsed the NASA's website and stumbled upon a gorgeous picture of Neptune taken by Voyager 2 in 1989. I imagined the inter-planetary journey and the slow approach to Neptune at the edge of our solar system... So poetic! After deliberating whether or not to add more elements to the track, I decided to include minimal beats to give it a bit more structure.
"Unseen unsemble" is an hommage to one of my favorite recent musical finds, Hidden Orchestra. This James Bond-esque track is full of intrigue and mystery, and has a slight dissonance intended to build up tension. This track has layers of handpan, sansula, piano, strings, bass and drums.
I wrote this last piece as the soundtrack for a vlog documenting a trip to Flagstaff, AZ with Jill. It has a post-rock influence from bands like Explosions In The Sky, Caspian or Sigúr Ros. The 7/8 time signature is intended to help build the progression which makes post-rock so enjoyable. The track starts with minimal piano and handpan melodies and picks up with saturated guitars, drums, each time increasing in intensity.