Galen Stapley is a Brighton based multi-instrumentalist and graduate of the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. Working as a freelance musician he found a niche playing, recording and writing in heavy, guitar driven rock and metal outfits including acclaimed cult prog metal act Slice the Cake. After stepping back from his radio rock project Hightown Parade, he’s focused on writing and recording music for clients to commission remotely from his home studio as well as writing songs for his prog rock band Azure.
Spending his early years as a musician focused purely on explosive guitar acrobatics and not much else, Galen found himself with a unique, if not fairly limited toolset when it came to composition. But spending the latter years working alongside great singers and songwriters he met along the way, he’s taken that toolset and used it to develop a deeply idiosyncratic style of composition and part writing, with a heavy focus on serving the song before all else.
He now finds himself as at home composing minimalist pieces that require compositional restraint and careful note choices as he is composing bombastic prog rock combining orchestral sounds with soaring guitars and screaming synthesizers.
Whether it’s for a soundtrack or an artist’s personal project, corporate or indie, Galen’s excitement for music shines through his work on any project he involves himself in. The director’s vision is always paramount, and Galen will always strive to ensure that vision is communicated musically, and pour his all into delivering an evocative product.
Having spent the last few years corresponding with clients on briefs, Galen has developed a sensitive understanding of music for more than its immediate impact in a vacuum. He understands the many crucial functions it can serve as part of something bigger. Whether the music needs to blast away in the forefront and get everyone’s blood pumping, or lie back in the background and provide a bed for dialogue while conjuring an atmosphere, Galen approaches both with the same enthusiasm.
