By Evan Heins -- Eagle Staff Writer/Photography Editor
Music can be taken in many different directions, a soothing symphony, or an uplifting and dynamic ballad. In other words, it can simply be defined as “Noises Crashing”.
on May 29th, 2023, Michael Pierce, a Senior at FCHS, released his first album titled “Noises Crashing”, an Electronic Music album. Electronic Music as a genre isn’t nearly as popular as it was years ago, but Pierce found a way to remind people how great the genre really is.
The development of the article would not come easy though, only giving himself time to work on it during class. “It took me roughly a semester to finish the album since I only got to work on it in Electronic Music class,” explained Pierce.
Thankfully since Pierce could work on it during class time, it didn’t interfere with his work. “Since I was making the album in Electronic Music class, it did not affect [my] grades too much. All the songs except two were made in class on the computers. The other two were made on my phone in my free time," Pierce stated.
Pierce would explain most of his inspiration came in unconventional ways; mostly old rock, and even other musically talented students “The two main artists that inspired me were Pink Floyd and my classmate JJ Pratt. Pink Floyd has some great synth work and JJ is an EDM connoisseur,” said Pierce. Pierce also added that JJ and himself have considered collaborating for a future project.
Pierce refers to himself as a guitar enthusiast but is also experienced with a world of other instruments. “I'm only really serious about guitar, but I can mess around on piano/bass and still make something musical, it's just very basic.”
While Pierce is still in school, he’s openly passionate about the state of the music industry right now, “As much as I'd love to make playing guitar and or synth for people, I don't think the market is steady enough for someone to jump into that at the moment…” Pierce stated regardless that he will continue to make music as a hobby.
The album’s first few songs would be formatted similarly to one another. “The first songs I made were built around the same format. I made a progression of chords and copied and pasted the sequence to different instruments…” explained Pierce. After a few progressions, Pierce would add more to the song, “after each progression, more instruments would chime in until it reached a climax and it would fade out in the same manner it came in,” said Pierce.
Pierce would state how he viewed his work on the album, “I just thought of it as a cacophony of noise… and eventually decided on "Noises Crashing" for the title."
Pierce plans on releasing an album in the near future when he has acquired a set up for his music, and a sneak peek of what's to come. "I need a computer and some sort of DAW and MIDI keyboard to make a sequel, but in the next year or so [I'll have those]. I'd also love to make a rock/guitar-focused album at some point,” said Pierce.
You can stream “Noises Crashing” for yourself on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music. Pierce ended that he looks forward to continuing to make music and also hopes to collaborate with more friends in the future.