Rob Hope

Upon the conclusion of Numericoncerto, I could not decide what to do next. I was toying around with the idea of writing a symphony, but couldn’t really pull anything concrete together thematically. I had also toyed with the idea of two smaller projects, one focused on melodic songs, one focused on rock songs. That would have allowed me to release quicker.

Instead, I found I needed an outlet for some of the negative experiences of the last year, in our country and our society and our professional and personal relationships as a whole. And I found myself back in the 18 song album mode, but this time, I stripped away all the orchestral ornamentation, focusing on keyboard instruments, acoustic and electric guitars, and improving my piano composition.

Taking my research into extended chord voicings into account, I challenged myself to expand my harmonic vocabulary and Servings of Sadness is the result. The title comes from an iconic quote from a colleague of mine, “That’s two servings of sadness!” and adequately encompasses the tone I was striving for.

That said, I like how this turned out for the most part. Some of my strongest writing for piano is here, and there are some nuanced variations in the harmonies and chord structures as well as I leveraged what I learned online, sometimes taking specific chord transitions as inspirations, sometimes building whole songs on a single idea such as the use of 6th chords. It seems I always work better when I have at least one fixed conceptual target to drive for.

You can learn more about this album here.

Available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon Music.