Below you can listen to some of Maria’s music! She has gathered together material that she feels shows the range of what she can do, both compositionally and vocally.

FIVE WHITE BUTTERFLIES

Written; Oct 2009

Voice, keyboards and sequencing; Maria Milewska

Bass; Shane Webbuk

THERE WITH YOU

Written; April 2007

Voice, keyboards and sequencing; Maria Milewska

DECEMBER

Written; Dec 2008

Voice and sequencing; Maria Milewska

Piano; Chris Gilligan

Cello; Miriam Wakeling

Drums; Rhian Williams

GHOST

Written; July 2007

Voice, keyboards and sequencing; Maria Milewska

Drums; Callum Yuill

Double Bass; Tom Mc Allister

NO PROPHECY

Written; May 2006

Voice, keyboards and sequencing; Maria Milewska

Drums; Owen Sheppard and Rhian Williams

IGNITE

Written: Sep 2009

Voice, keyboards and sequencing; Maria Milewska

Violin; Emily Carroll

Bass; Shane Webbuk


All parts written and recorded by Maria Milewska



FATHER LUCIFER

Father Lucifer is a song by Tori Amos, of whom Maria is a huge fan. It is off her somewhat off the wall album Boys for Pele. Maria worked the song out by ear and on this version is both playing the piano part and singing.

DEAD INSIDE

Dead Inside is a sing by a friend of Maria’s called Robert Davies. On this recording, he is playing the piano part and Maria is singing all the vocal parts.

Coming Soon!



MATER

TThis Collaboration is a track called Mater with a Spanish producer known as Khaibeat. Maria is collaborating with him on his album Fonogenia.



TUNDRA

‘Tundra’ is a piece made entirely from flute and piano samples. Maria’s aim was to write a piece that was experimental, but still tonal.

The first step was to build a sample bank of flute and piano. To do this, she recorded Catherine Malpas playing some initial notated melodies, as well as making all sorts of weird and wonderful sounds.

Maria then went through a similar process with the piano. She ‘prepared’ the instrument using screws and blue tack and recorded herself playing snatches of melody, along with a variety of non-traditional sounds. These included slamming the piano lid, plucking the strings inside and getting different timbres out of the strings by applying her preparation materials to them.

Once she was happy that she had a large enough sample bank, she began manipulating the flute and piano samples in Metasynth. Using this method, she created entirely new sounds, which would form the basis of the piece.

Lastly, she wrote a more traditional, tonal flute melody that would weave in and out of the other elements.

NEXUS

‘Nexus’ is a piece which aims to connect lots of different vocal samples, drawing them together into a piece where they may blend, oppose and interact. As with ‘Tundra’ Maria wanted to keep the majority of the material relatively tonal so that it would not be difficult to listen to. However, she did want to explore a range of sounds and slightly challenge our perceptions of the ‘traditional’ sound of a choir.

Maria’s sound sources included choral works of contemporary composers Eric Whitacre and Xenakis. She took short samples form lots of different pieces then manipulated them (often beyond recognition!) to make new sounds. The piece follows an ABA structure.

DEVOLUTION

The concept behind the title is that the structure of the piece ‘devolves’ from sharp angles with sudden dynamic impacts exploding into textures of energetic, intricate sounds, to smoother, softer builds, fading to a drawn-out close. This could translate to have several meanings; that of a storm dissolving into calm, an imaginary reversal of the human or animal evolution back to primitive beginnings, or simply an abstract exploration of sound. The simplest way to express the structure is by drawing amplification envelopes following a timeline;

All the sounds that Maria created were from a piano, although this is sometimes hard to believe! For the manipulation of sounds, she mainly used GRM tools and Metasynth.

Coming soon!

Maria is an experienced singer with many different things under her belt. She has been classically trained to grade 8 standard, gaining distinctions in all her exams. She has been involved in the tradition of folk singing for years. She has performed regularly in Eisteddfods and concerts from a young age. She was a member of a Musical Theatre club for five years. She has fronted a rock band and a trip-hop band, and is currently fronting a new band. She has sang over different types of electronic music, something which she feels her voice is well suited to and is very interested in. And she has also worked extensively in a studio environment something which she gets a lot out of.

From pop-songs to classical pieces, film scores to experimental electro-acoustic music, Maria has composed in a wide variety of styles. She has been writing music for as long as she can remember, and has strived to rise to any musical challenge that has crossed her path. Rather than limiting herself to one particular type of composition, she has followed her inspiration wherever it has taken her, while still hopefully retaining her own sound. Contained in this website are examples of some of her work created during and after her time at university.

Once Maria had discovered the technological world of music, she immersed herself wholeheartedly. She is now able to use any software platform, having leant her way around lots of different programs including Cubase, Logic, Protools, Reason and Metasynth. Her natural perfectionism and attention to detail lent itself well to any role where she was needed to be a musical producer. She found that studio based work was something she could easily lose herself in. After years of compiling equipment, she currently owns a more than adequate home studio and is able to record and produce at will.