I’m really grateful that technology has enabled us to keep recording music, even if we’re literally separated by an ocean. This has been been one of the undoubted joys of the pandemic era. Collaboration has always been a core tenet of both Lexi’s and my approach to musicianship. In this blog post, we thought we’d highlight a particularly fruitful collaboration 3,990 miles in the making.

In winter semester of 2019, I took a composition class with Mark Kirschenmann. That was one of the most transformative experiences of my life as a musician; through his all-genres-welcome approach, I got exposed to hip-hop producers, singer-songwriters, rockers, and experimental composers. And that was just my classmates. One of the ways Mark would help us get familiar with a new musical concept was dividing us into small groups. We would be given a target music theory concept to incorporate into an original song. Then it was off to the races--five people who barely knew each other, with mutually exclusive musical upbringings, writing a song in 20 minutes.

That’s how I got exposed to the creative process of Gretchen Andrews. At intervals in the semester, we would perform original compositions for the class. From that, I already knew that she was a skilled vocalist, with a style based on stripped-down classic rock. When we got split into groups, we started talking in more depth about our music, since we both brought guitars to class and had to figure out how to harmonize our parts. I found that her songwriting approach was a lot different from mine, but the resulting songs spoke for themselves. Eventually, our discussions about how to transition from 7/8 to 5/4 became invitations to swap original compositions.

From these meetings right before class, we discovered that we both had a vision of making music in an ensemble. I brought up Central Limit, and how we would love to work with someone who could actually sing. Lexi thought it was perfect to work with Gretchen while she spent the summer crushing the DAT. So before long, Gretchen and I made a rap song with Popsicle Adham Fattah, spent the summer working on original music, played an open mic for public access TV, and recorded a multitude of material in the Duderstadt center. Through it, I learned a ton as a songwriter and producer.

At the time, I worked atmospheric synth into every song I wrote. I didn’t think anything else was rich enough to capture a song’s mood. But for her music, Gretchen preferred the classic rock setup of guitar, bass, and drums. I perused a lot of rock from the 70s and 80s to figure out how they created such an all-compassing sound without anything explicitly ambient. Through producing Gretchen’s “Amnesia” and “Off-Book” (coming soon), I became comfortable with a stripped-down setup and realized that I was often using synth as a crutch. Gretchen’s songs told a compelling and emotional story without ambience to hold the audience’s hand. I loved it, and that influence has definitely made its way into upcoming Central Limit music.

Our Duderstadt recording session was a few days before Gretchen was set to leave for Spain. I had never collaborated with anyone remotely. I knew it was theoretically possible, but as we see now, timing, ensemble skills, and harmony are all hurdles for remote collabs. For a few months, we didn’t make much music as she adjusted to living and working abroad, and I sought to balance an intensifying full-time job.

When the smoke cleared, a novel coronavirus began ravaging the globe. It’s weird because remote collaboration was obviously possible the whole time, but the lockdowns provided more impetus to try it in earnest. Through email, voice memos, and time-zone-adjusted calls, we’ve  recaptured the magic of those afternoons in RC HUMS 350. It’s been amazing to see how we’ve grown as musicians in the intervening time. I feel that Central Limit x Gretchen highlights the essence of collaboration: open-mindedness, creativity, and having a blast above all else.

We hope to keep releasing new material, especially Gretchen’s originals, in the coming weeks and months. Central Limit is always open for collaborations; come say hi at centrallimitmusic@gmail.com!

Open mic (we play around the 1:00 mark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH_9xKKurKU

Gretchen’s soundcloud:

soundcloud.com/gretchen-andrews

Amnesia by Gretchen Andrews:

https://soundcloud.com/central-limit/amnesia

Central Limit is greatly disturbed and saddened by the recent events in Wisconsin and elsewhere that have formed a backdrop for all of our work this year. Being able to make music is a tremendous privilege; while it’s undoubtedly a great unifier, we know it’s not sufficient. We feel that the most meaningful thing to do, as Central Limit, is to be an advocate:

https://nymag.com/strategist/article/where-to-donate-for-black-lives-matter.html

https://www.house.gov/representatives

https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

https://www.congress.gov/state-legislature-websites

Fangbo Yuan and Lexi Hamlin 9/1/20

Central Limit was founded in 2018 by Fangbo Yuan (Data Science ‘19) and Lexi Hamlin (BCN ‘19). Fangbo played in Pops for all eight semesters of undergrad and served as Technical Director from 2016 to 2019. Lexi spent her senior season with the orchestra and is now applying to dental schools.

Like Central Limit: facebook.com/centrallimitmusic

Listen to Central Limit: soundcloud.com/central-limit and CentralLimitMusic