Zen railway modelling

Thanks for all the positive response to this track! It was one which I thought people would find puzzling or self-indulgent - I still have no idea how people will react to music which is out of the ordinary.

The title popped into my head then grew into a piece. In this crazy mixed up world we all need something we can put into some sort of order, make sense of. It could be a hobby, a sport or artform, maybe voluntary work or research - even motorcycle maintenance. Railway modelling is one of those things where you can get close to a private universe.

Having got the title and idea I looked for a musical parallel. The piece is based around a loop as are most model railway layouts. The trick is to try and hide part of the loop and make it look as if trains are arriving from different places after a long journey, rather than just a run around the block! To achieve that I’ve varied the harmony around the loop which does a fair job of disguising it. The various tunes are my “trains of thought” improvised on my Roland guitar synth. The sitar sound combined with percussion on a Korg Wavedrum gave me a Bollywood flavour which I resisted at first then decided to embrace. The electronic sounds are the scenery.

Having got the Bollywood sound and Zen theme I decided the video to go with it needed to explore models of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway - itself sometimes referred to as a “toy” train. Because of the gradients involved this line was modelled on Welsh narrow gauge prototypes so I was able to bring it back to home.

By the way “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” has become the best-selling philosophy book of all time. It's author Robert Pirsig developed the idea of "gumption traps"; "an event or mindset that can cause a person to lose enthusiasm and become discouraged from starting or continuing a project." This seems to me such an important and under-explored idea. It helps explain why nearly everybody under achieves! Training people how to get over these traps would be the quickest way of improving both productivity and mental health