Background
The album offers two genres of music for two different moods, a division which Oldfield created by making two CDs of music. The first nine tracks are dubbed "Light" and feature brighter and quiet pieces; the second half of the album is the "Shade" portion and brings in a much darker feel. Many of the tracks on the album are remixed and/or extended versions of the music from the Tres Lunas video game.
On his official website, Oldfield reported that besides the standard version of the album, a 5.1 surround mix of the album had been produced as well. However, as of 2010 it has not been released. Four tracks from Light + Shade were made available in the U-MYX format for fans to mix themselves.
Oldfield's attraction to vocal modification surfaced again, this time in the form of Vocaloid, a virtual vocal software package. The voice of "Miriam" was used. The virtual voice "Miriam" is based on the voice of Miriam Stockley, with whom Oldfield had previously worked. One of the Vocaloid tracks, "Surfing", was meant to be the album's first single, according to the Spanish website zm.nu. "Tears of an Angel" also featured Miriam singing alongside the Cantor software.
The tracks "First Steps" and "Ringscape" were arranged by Robyn Smith. Christopher von Deylen makes a guest appearance on "Nightshade". Oldfield repaid the favor by playing guitar on "Morgentau", a track from the Tag und Nacht album for Deylen's band Schiller.
"Quicksilver" is an alternative name for the metal mercury, which is also the name of his then-current record label. On Oldfield's following album, Music of the Spheres, he repeats this trick, with a track title "Musica Universalis" which when translated is Universal Music.
The track "Blackbird" is named after one of Oldfield's motorbikes, a Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird.
Read more about this topic: Light + Shade
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