by Daniel Corey
— Guest Columnist —
I recently had a chance to talk to Christina and Bruce Baldwin, collectively known as Ascent: an exciting rock duo based out of Southern California. They describe their style as “gritty guitar, propulsive rhythms and commanding, melodic vocals equal a new, undefinable sound.”
Their latest album is available for streaming on their website, www.Ascent.rocks; listening to the tracks, I found myself particularly fascinated with their new single, “Beacon Eleven.” The following is an insight into the world of Ascent.
Let’s start with the basics: how did Ascent come into being?
One evening, Christina answered a newspaper ad for a melodic vocalist, which led her to Bruce’s door. This was the day their story began.
After jamming with the band twice she was selected as the singer. At least a hundred songs four EPs and one LP later we are still performing, creating and connecting with listeners all over the world and local audiences.
We are also still happily married and more in love than ever.
What are your influences? How would you describe your sound?
We are influenced by progressive rock, hard rock, metal, and pop. We love complex and thoughtful bands like Tool, King Crimson, Yes, and Bent Knee. Christina is influenced Motown, R&B, Goth rock, and great singers like Ann Wilson. Our sound is dark, hard, intricate and soulful.
When it comes to songwriting, how are the duties divided? What does each of you bring to the process?
Christina and Bruce share lyric writing duties, and Bruce writes all of the music. Some of the songs start with the lyrics, and some start with melodic ideas. Bruce tends to write the melodies and chord progressions in his head while doing other things, or while sitting at the piano. Christina adds the finishing flourishes to Bruce’s melodies.
“Ascent” is a very powerful name. How did you come up with it? What is the meaning behind Ascent, and do you have an overall message in your songs?
Our name is inspired by flight. We are fascinated by the flight of birds and captivated by the man-made machines that allow humankind to take flight and reach the stars.
“Beacon Eleven” is a very interesting song; sounds like you have a lot of meter changes throughout, like the rhythm itself is communicating a message. Tell us a little about what is going on in this song musically, and the message behind it.
Bruce: The song is actually in eleven time, based on a repeated guitar riff of eleven notes. I’m somewhat obsessed with prime numbers – I’ve also written in 13, 17, 5 and 7. I had the riff and the lead guitar melody, and it was originally going to be an instrumental called “Eleven”. I think the timing creates a sense of urgency. The music is basically modal, based on a natural minor scale.
One day, I got stuck for a while reading Wikipedia articles about the Channel Islands. I was particularly interested in the story about San Nicolas, where a woman was left stranded there for many years, the last surviving member of her culture. Shortly after that, I went out on a long bike ride. I tend to write lyrics in my head while out on bike rides. Part of my creative process is to ask Christina for a couple of random words to think about while I’m riding, which helps me focus on writing lyrics. On this particular day, the words were “beacon” and “rotting”. So the song is about loneliness and isolation. I imagined being lost at sea and encountering this isolated person, sensing the loss all around, yet being unable to communicate.
What gear do you use? Bruce, what guitars, keys, drums do you prefer? Christina, do you have a favorite mic brand?
Bruce: I play PRS guitars. The main one is an S2 Custom 24, which is extremely versatile and can get some very aggressive tones. I also play a PRS Tremonti SE, which I keep tuned to a drop-C tuning for certain songs. I use a Boss GT-100 to get all of my guitar amp sounds and effects. My drum kit is a Roland TD-50 kit, which is amazing and really revolutionized our ability to make great drum recordings at home. On stage, I play a Roland Handsonic, which allows me to play drum kit sounds, percussion, samples and bass notes. Our ability to sound like a full band on stage is driven by a Boss RC-50 looping pedal.
Christina uses Shure microphones and Boss vocal effects on stage. For recording, she uses an MXL 3000 microphone.
Where did you record your album, and who handled producing duties?
We record everything in our home studio. Bruce is the primary producer, and Christina provides a critical second opinion and counterpoint. We tend to work on songs over a period of months until we’re truly happy with them.
Being that you are a rock duo, how do you prefer to perform live?
Although we are a duo, we are able to sound like a full band live band through the power of live looping. This means Bruce plays drums on the Roland Handsonic, records them on the fly and loops them, and builds up layers of guitars on top of that. On many songs, he triggers bass notes with foot pedals. We don’t use any prerecorded backing tracks on stage, it’s all created live. This combined with the power of Christina’s voice gives us a full rock sound.
Do you have any upcoming live dates?
June 18 at the Bird Dive Bar, Fullerton
June 22 at the House Of Blues, Foundation Room, Anaheim
July 19th at the Orange County Fair, Plaza Stage
Where can our readers find you and listen to your music?
You can hear all our music and watch our videos on our website: www.Ascent.rocks
We are active on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @ascentrocks
