Behind The Scenes with: The Green Kingdom
In this week's blog post we head behind the scenes with Michael Cottone, the artist behind long-running Ambient project The Green Kingdom - an artist I've followed for almost two decades. I first discovered Mike's music via the netlabel scene, and his early classics Twig and Twine (Own Records) and Prismatic (Home Assembly). Once again, Ryan Watts (AKA Akira Film Script), takes the interviewer's chair, to enable us to go a little deeper into The Green Kingdom world following latest album 'Vespera'.
Throughout the interview, Mike reflects on the origins of The Green Kingdom, a project now spanning beyond 20 years, and discusses how he has maintained such a distinctive musical voice throughout an extensive catalogue of releases. Ryan and Mike delve into the piano-led direction of Vespera, the balance between spaciousness and layered composition, the influence of place and atmosphere, and the hardware and software used to shape the album's sound world. The conversation also touches on creative intuition, favourite listening recommendations, and what lies ahead for The Green Kingdom.
Scroll down to read the full interview, where you'll also find photographs and embedded Bandcamp players. As always, at the bottom of the page you'll find links to learn more about The Green Kingdom and to listen to Vespera for yourself, if you haven't done so already...
Hey Mike, thanks for taking a moment to sit and chat with me about your new Whitelabrecs release, Vespera, and all things The Green Kingdom! For those new to your project and works, would you first start by letting us know how you came upon the artist name The Green Kingdom?
The Green Kingdom was the title of a children's encyclopaedia I had as a kid, all about plants and the natural world. It represents a personal sound world for me to escape into, though it seems others occasionally like to spend some time there as well...
That's beautifully personal; I always love finding out the different ways people came into their artist names.
You've been releasing under this moniker since the 2000s, and have a very healthy and impressive catalog of releases across a number of labels; what were you doing before The Green Kingdom, or what other projects have you dabbled in alongside The Green Kingdom over the years?
Mainly playing guitar for my own enjoyment, and earlier on in a couple bands with friends.
Wonderful. Listening to earlier albums like Meadowview or Twig and Twine, then hearing your latest Vespera, you've managed to maintain a unique voice in the Ambient space for two decades; how have you maintained such a distinct sound? Is it something in your setup or hardware/instruments, or more within your approach or process that you've maintained consistency for so long?
I think it has something to do with the way I write, arrange and layer things regardless of whether it's with a guitar or in a DAW. I tend to of think of patterns and melodies in a similar way, so it probably ends up still sounding like me as much as I try to change things up here and there.
Haha, fair enough. Now, putting Vespera itself under a microscope, this sounds like your most piano-driven outing, but at no loss of your pastoral guitars and drones that have found themselves spread across your other works. What brought you to focus more on the piano with this album?
I think it relates to the last question, just a way to break of of my typical process of starting with guitar as the initial compositional tool. I started writing these inital piano sketches or somber-sounding chord progressions and then build out the pieces from there.
A beautiful and successful approach in my opinion. On that topic, and getting a bit gear nerd-y, what other hardware, pedals, racks, and/or VSTs did you use to make the magic that we hear in Vespera?
The Arturia Piano v2 VST played a pretty central role, I've been using their DX7 plugin a lot in recent years as well. In terms of effects, I use Valhalla Delay and Supermassive a lot and there is also some Arturia Efx Fragments in there for granular/drone-type effects. For guitar, I'm pretty sure I mainly used the Stymon Cloudburst for reverb on this one. There would definitely be a bit of Chase Bliss Mood and Chroma Console in use too.
Mood, Chroma, and Cloudburst are an excellent combo!
My understanding is that twilight played a bit of a role in the sonic themes of this album. Was that drawn from the sessions themselves being evening sessions, or was it a character that formed outside of capturing specific moments at those specific times of day?
I think some of those initial piano sketches may have come about later in the day or in the evening. I'm typically working on things whenever I can find the time, so the vibe of the record sort of just developed over time independent of when recording and production happened.
This album has an incredibly strong sense of place, and also room to move around within each composition - each feels lived-in, but not cluttered; is your process one of building things up to create a space, or is it more about putting all the ideas into a composition, then stripping layers back to create that sense of space? As well, is the album informed by your environment on the outskirts of Detroit, or were you looking to another location for inspiration on the album?
I tend to want to keep layering in melodies and different harmonic elements, so it's always a case of tying out diffent things and then paring it down to what feels essential for each piece. I try to be conscious of how things are placed spatially in terms of frequency range as well as within the stereo field to keep it from getting too overcrowded or muddy. Location-wise, we're out in the suburbs- our neighborhood has a lot of trees and natural areas. I feel like our locale often tends to inform my work, but not necessarily in this case. It has a dimly-lit room or empty cathedral sort of feel for me, but I think it's flexible enough to work in whatever environment the listener finds themself in.
I have to agree, this album gave me a sense of a dimly-lit cottage in the woods - very visual; strong narrative sense. After these sessions, do you see yourself incorporating more piano into your works in the future, or will you be returning to your classic guitars and dreamy layers, letting Vespera sit as a remarkable deviation in your usual sonic palette?
Not sure, I typically go with whatever I'm feeling at the time. Whenever I try to plan out what type of sound I'm going for with a record, the end result will usually end up going in a completely different direction.
Fair enough, haha - I know lots of artists I speak to who say the same thing. Honestly, it seems a bit rare to find someone who says they created exactly what they intended to.
Vespera sounds like a deeply inspired record; who, or what albums, were you looking to or listening to that helped inspire this set of compositions?
Hmm, hard to recall. Pretty sure that I was listening to the Max Richter Sleep Circle album (live versions of his Sleep material), works by Harold Budd (with and without Robin Guthrie on guitar), and some of the more recent Ambient material by The Black Dog and also Robert Rich.
Heavy hitters there; great stuff.
Somewhat on the topic of inspirations and influences, we're always sharing music we love from today and yesteryear in the Inner Echo community; what are some stone cold classics for you, and what are some recent highlights from your listening adventures?
I could go on all day with this type of question, but I'll name off a few. In terms of some all-time favorites: Eno and Budd - Ambient 2, Tortoise - TNT, King Crimson - Red, Buckethead - Electric Tears. Recently listening to Devin Townsend - Ghost, Michael Brook - Cobalt Blue reissue, vin downes & tom eaton - until the light was gone, lots of Hermanos Gutiérrez and Jeff Parker.
Thanks for sharing that with us - some wonderful albums there, and some new names for us to explore too.
So, looking ahead, what's next for The Green Kingdom? Any other releases in the works, or future projects or collaborations we should be on the lookout for?
Yep, lots of releases planned- currently two or three TGK albums in various stages of completion. Also, a collab with Maps and Diagrams coming up next....
That's all wonderful! I know I'm excited for all of that, especially a Maps & Diagrams collab...
Mike, thank you for your time today - it's been great chatting, and I can't wait to do it again sometime soon! Cheers!
We hope you enjoyed this interview! To explore more about The Green Kingdom, you can follow the links below...
'vespera' is available in a limited repress of 100 vinyl-effect CDrs, as well as a digital options in a range of high quality formats. You can take a listen to the album in full HERE!
