Serpentine Skies is the Connecticut-based music project of Steven Belcher, focused mainly around the meditative state between the conscious and unconscious states of mind.
I caught up with Steven to talk about his early musical experiences, how he started writing and recording and the making of his new album “Earth Angel”.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you as a kid and what artist or band did you enjoy the most?
Steven-The first music that I really enjoyed as a kid that I bought was a tape of Jewel’s album “Pieces of You” during the 1990s. The first album that I bought with my own money was Nirvana’s album “In Utero” on CD.
CMM-When did you start playing music and creating songs?
Steve-I started creating music rather late, it was in my twenties, or around 2015-ish, I learned guitar rather late, in my early 20s and my earlier songs on some records just came to me, the creative process to me is still a mystery, I’ve found over the years that I can’t force it, songs come when they come and during a time I wrote a lot of music in a short span.
CMM-You recently released a new record called “Earth Angel”. What was the writing and recording process like? What gear and instruments did you use during the sessions?
Steven-Earth Angel was a project of mine that came to me after making 2 other albums this year, I had a creative struggle, that could be called writer’s block after having finished 2 other albums, I felt creatively exhausted, and then at some point songs came to me. There were also a few songs that I had put out previously that I re-recorded for this album.
On Earth Angel, I used a lot of crystal instruments, I had crystal forks, crystal pyramids, singing bowls, that I all recorded for samples, and then used a VST to make music with, on two of the tracks, Angelic Realms, and Crystal Matrix, they were made as a result of a quirk of a VST, Arturia Pigments, where notes would be played in a sort of random pattern, the sample used was a crystal fork, the same sort of sample is used for “Wand Ritual” using a different VST, but it created this beautiful liquid crystal music. Other tracks like Angel’s Hair and To Drink The Sea used guitars, and I’ve gotten much better at guitar in my near year of sobriety and now regular practice.
CMM-If you could do a score for any film director, who would it be and what would the film be about?
Steven-I like Tarkovsky’s films, David Lynch’s Films, Stanley Kubrick’s films, I have a thing for film scores, and my other album “From Darkness to Light” used a lot of waterphone, which is used in a lot of horror and sci-fi film soundtracks, I like Mark Snow’s work on “The X-Files” including his use of waterphone there, I have other albums where I used waterphones, so I think I’d fit in well in the score of a horror film or sci-fi film.
CMM-Anything coming up? Any new recordings in the works?
Steven-I’ve made 3 albums in one year, and I have things that are on the proverbial cutting room floor for this album that didn’t fit into the allocated time for a possible physical release, but might see their own dedicated project, probably for next year, but I feel a bit creatively exhausted at the moment. I’d love to tour or do live, as I regularly practice a set on acoustic guitar, but transportation is often difficult for me.
