Watch All 14 Compositions Here (Click for Playlist)
Buy the Sheet Music-Full notation of instrument parts, live loop triggers & FX changes)
Less Than Three <3
14 Violin Live Loop Compositions. Each under 3 minutes. One continuous take. Beautiful locations in Mexico.
What you see is what you hear. No play along or pre-production. Just me, my violin, Fx, loop pedal, and the moment.
This album has been six years in the making. Not because it took six years to record - I captured all the footage in 2019 and 2020. But because I got stuck at about 90% complete and couldn’t quite get myself across the finish line.
Until now.
I’m now releasing one track with live video per week.
Finally closing this open loop that’s been fragmenting my attention for years.
Finally becoming a person who finishes what he starts.
Question+Experience+Insight = Album Concept
The Less Than Three project emerged from the combination of a specific question, specific experience, and specific insight.
Question: How do I bridge the gap between the spontaneity I love in live looping and the consistency I need to feel confident performing, EVERY time?
Insight: Limitations foster creativity, and freedom within them.
Experience: Live Mexican TV Performance that motivated me to prepare differently than ever before.
The Flow of Inspiration… or trickle.
Live looping has this beautiful improvisational element, that I love.
With just a looper, multi-fx, and instrument- you’re free to build any sort of loops, on the spot.
It can lead me anywhere, and sometimes leads me musical places I never would have imagined.
But it’s not ALWAYS obvious what to do.
The inspiration doesn’t always flow.
It’s easy for it to fall flat or get monotonous.
I used to fully improvise all of my performances- a double edged sword.
Sometimes I had totally inspired shows where new ideas came out better than ever in real time in front of the audience...
but other times had totally underwhelming shows- nothing seemed to click, no interesting new ideas, couldn’t even remember anything interesting I’d done before… just barely held it together through the end of the set. Super uncomfortable.
I never knew which it would be. It was unnerving.
The Pivotal Experience
When I got invited to perform live on Mexican Television, I thought it might be a big turning point in my career. In a certain way it was… but not how I expected.
I had just 2.5 minutes to make an impact, and I thought millions of people might see it and become fans, so I carefully planned how each loop layer would build, then rehearsed it in my mind over and over.
I wanted to make all 150 seconds count, and loved the state of mind I got into while rehearsing.
I also loved that I felt no pressure to try do anything more complex than I could reasonably pull off in a composition of less than three minutes....and the freedom I found in those limitations became the foundation of the entire album concept.
The answer to my question emerged:
Develop a repertoire of compositions I’d practiced enough to have solid structure, but with room to breathe and improvise within that framework.
And emulate the constraints of playing on live TV:
1st constraint: Keep them under 3 minutes. Force myself to distill each idea to its essence. No endless meandering. Just the core of what makes each piece beautiful.
2nd constraint: Each composition recorded in one continuous live take. Practice the repertoire until I could reliably perform it live under pressure.
These <3 minute versions could always be expanded upon in live performance, and if I was in the flow of inspiration with new ideas, I didn’t necessarily even need to play them, but if I ever felt stuck I’d have something solid to rely on.
The Journey
I started developing some live loop ideas in the months after the TV performance and on my birthday Nov 2019 recorded the first new composition “Cloud Kaleidoscope.”
I happily announced the project, trusting I’d make it all happen. Here’s the original 2019 announcement video.
The Locations
I was living with my partner at the time in one of these amazing Shire like hobbit houses in the forests on the outside of Mexico City called “Casa del Arbol,” and felt I should make the most of having so many uniquely beautiful locations so close to me. Some of the neighbors graciously opened their houses for me to record in, and I did some recording work at a beautiful hotel on a quartz mountain in Valle de Bravo, while they were renovating, and had permission to shoot my own videos in my free time.
Some locations we had the whole day. Others just a half hour.
That time pressure actually often helped- sharpened focus similar live TV, made me jump in to record while we had the chance, forced decisions, prevented endless perfectionism.
Dropping the Ball
I found I couldn't maintain the intended weekly pace, so I worked on recording them all first, and finished all the recordings by August 2020.
Now I just had some cumbersome editing work left to do, some tough decisions about which takes to use, and one composition that I felt I still needed a better take of.
These were my weak points. I fell into indecision and started to lose some momentum...
So when I got commissioned to make the Kan soundtrack, it was the perfect excuse to start a new exciting project before wrapping up this one I’d been working on almost a year.
I knew I wanted to finish Less Than Three, but I told myself I needed to start on the commission ASAP, that it was better to change priorities.
Less Than Three sat at 90% complete for six years.
Flipping the Switch
Becoming a father in November 2023 changed something- helped me focus in on what matters most to me. I realized the importance of finishing projects.
So here we are. Finally finishing what I started.
The Tracks
I’ll be adding Substack posts here for each track as a hub for the music and the story behind it all in one place.
Less Than Three Videos FULL Playlist (Click Here)
Follow the Journey
After so much time, I might have decided to just abandon this project and just move on… but I couldn’t.
There’s something special in it… and it seemed silly to let SO much hard work stay buried.
This isn’t just about releasing music. It’s about what I’m learning as I finally close a six-year loop.
On the Insights channel/ Publication I’m sharing the process - the mindset shifts, the decision-making, the lessons about finishing what I start.
If you’ve ever had a creative project stuck at 90%, or generally have trouble finishing projects, maybe some of what I’m discovering will help you too.
Start here: Open Loops pt. 1
The full album is releasing weekly on YouTube and will be available on all streaming platforms when complete.
Love you,
Samuel
