Chris Bingham teamed up with a host of YouTubers and musicians for the release of his sophomore album, MMCCXV.
Chris and guitarist Carlos Montero released the album under the moniker of “High Five Spaceship”. Meaning “2215” in Roman numerals, MMCCXV is the follow up to 2014’s Progress.
Chris began work on the album back in May 2015, when he launched a Kickstarter to help fund the project. He hit his goal of £2,000 in less than 24 hours, with the end total reaching £4,743. The money raised allowed for him to solely focus on MMCCXV – then named Pathfinder – and to pay for the travel expenses of collaborators.
Featuring ten tracks of electronic music, the album was recorded throughout the majority of last year, with Chris splitting the process into three components: composition, recording and mixing/mastering.
Speaking with TenEighty, he describes the process: “When I’m starting out with a new track, I like to compose on my own at first. I play the drum kit and I sing, but I don’t have formal training with a tuned instrument, like the piano or guitar, so I like the freedom to make a lot of mistakes and [to] move at my own speed.
“It sounds obvious, but when your system is all digital, it’s really easy to get ahead of yourself and start adding effects and doing post-production when you still don’t have a song fully written,” he continues. “Before I recorded each track, I wanted to know I had a clear concept. Before I added effects and details, I wanted to know that even the rough mixes sounded great.”
MMCCXV sees Chris collaborating with various musicians and YouTubers. Along with Carlos, those appearing on the album include Bryarly Bishop, who contributed segments of spoken word, and musician/producer TVMPST. Jonti “Weebl” Picking and Daniel Dobbs also aided in the album’s formation, with Jonti helping Chris decide the direction to take the mixing and mastering, and Daniel covering upcoming tracks that don’t directly appear on the release.
MMCCXV by High Five Spaceship
iTunes link: https://t.co/YFG3BFSkMf
CD & VINYL: https://t.co/LpYtWGAgcC pic.twitter.com/x9a397erFq— Christopher Bingham (@helloiambing) March 23, 2016
As aforementioned, the album is a collection of electronic tracks that Chris wrote himself. Described as a melancholy release filled with hope, it features “aggressive electronic sounds, grandiose cinematic strings and dark lyrics” and is different from its predecessor in that, instead of each track standing alone, it tells a complete story. This means MMCCXV should be listened to in one go, from start to finish.
“I drew a lot on my experience in the media industry, as a creator, as a businessman,” Chris explains. “It’s also inspired by my love of science-fiction. From start to finish, it has an emotional core driving every decision I made about the sound.”
MMCCXV isn’t the only musical release Chris is planning on debuting this year, as he plans to follow up the album with a five-track EP, titled Entropy Is Important. However, unlike MMCCXV, the EP will only be released digitally, without a Kickstarter campaign and with no announcement. “It will just be out when it’s ready,” says Chris.
To conclude, Chris discusses the possibility of a third High Five Spaceship album. “I think we’ve made something here with MMCCXV that is so good [that] it will get people pumped for more. The hype will be real. As long as I do my job right and get people hearing it, I have no doubt we could smash a third album target sometime in the future.”
MMCCXV is currently available for purchase on iTunes and through Hit With Wrench.
Want More?
Learn more about MMCCXV‘s Kickstarter campaign and Chris’ hopes for music. Alternatively, you could read about Monsters and Fireflies, the debut album from Klaire de Lys‘ band, Malumi.
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