Moribana from Conjunction by Waxwing

This song has an accompanying video you can watch here.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y16NwSfkeao

Moribana began as a challenge. My wife Alisa, a student of ikebana (Japanese flower arranging), created an arrangement using flowers we picked out together. Then I composed this piece using her arrangement as inspiration. The music is based around two interlocking patterns of three chords each, reflecting the two sets of three flowers that relate in the ikebana. The flowers' relationship sets up the tension and release in the arrangement, and I was hoping that the bed of chords I used would do the same thing. Alisa's arrangement is a moribana, "water reflecting" arrangement, so I used volume swells in the chords to create a soft attack, inspired by the water. The melody line uses a fair amount of twang and reverb, inspired by the watery sounds of surf music. 

Mike Mangiaracina is a musician and teacher living in Takoma Park, MD. He plays in the band Grey Swift, who play regularly in the area. He also performs as Waxwing, creating both instrumentals and vocal based songs that explore introspective themes.