Photo Credit: Ceiling Spirits
Ceiling Spirits is the work of Milwaukee composer Mario Quadracci, who looks to follow up his 2018 self-titled debut with a new album later this year. The first track from the new project, “Patterns,” features an ever-constant evolving synth line that takes on a sound that is larger than life by the song’s climax. Within the span of around five minutes, he is able to use the minimal sounds of a modular synthesizer to create a full soundscape, all in a slow, rolling process that allows you to feel the track’s full motion.
The work of Ceiling Spirits is not as simple as the final product may appear; the 2018 debut was the end result of over two years of recording and development. The project also included mastering at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, a testament of Quadracci’s devotion to the project. With a lack of musical resources available this time around, due to the COVID-19 shutdown around the world, Quadracci learned to lean into the use of modular synths and various alternatives to conventional musicians. The plan is to roll out the album sporadically as it is created, with “Patterns” and follow-up experimental track “UltraQuiet” already recorded. It’s a novel concept that feels reactionary to the atmosphere that the pandemic has created.
For the music video, Quadracci tapped collaborator Jordan Rundle, who provides a minimal, yet hypnotizing visual component to the track. Much like the song’s constant evolution, the video also starts with a seemingly disconnected pattern of animations, which over time develop into something much larger than any one component of the pattern. It is a theme shared between the track and video, and emphasizes Quadracci’s vision that minimal elements, which may appear disjointed initially, are a part of something larger altogether.
