Category Archives: Songwriting

Paradigm

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The first time I played a draft of Paradigm for Mikey he looked at me and said that he had no idea how he would add drums to what I created.

The first I played a draft of Paradigm for Emili she asked if the song really needed lyrics.

This is what they heard.

Paradigm draft

The song almost did not make it to the album. I thought about releasing it as an instrumental, but I always felt that with the right ingredients, the song would come alive.

And so it sat for many months.

Then one day Emili showed up with lyrics. Reading the lyrics alone made no sense. So I loaded the draft and had her sing along with it. Suddenly the song made sense. We recorded her scratch vocals along with the other songs and eventually a copy made its to Mikey and rest of the band.

I never did ask Emili what the lyrics are supposed to mean. I suppose it means something different to everyone.

When we got around to recording the drums, I still had no idea what Mikey was going to with the drums. The first time I heard his part was when I hit record on Pro Tools. Needless to say, I was amazed and pleased with what he created.

As we added the parts in the coming months the song finally took shape and became one of our favorites to play.

Here is the studio recording.

And finally, here is the live performance.

Enjoy.

Idle Thoughts

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It is often interesting to me that whenever I try to write, not much writing happens. However, the moments I am not trying to write is often when the writing begins. Hence the title of my post.

As creators we often get wrapped up in the business of the craft; we have to create our products.

What is difficult for me is that I create albums. I do not set out to create one song after another, I begin with a concept for an album and build the songs around the concept. Historically, when I complete an album, I begin writing a new one. The problem is that the next album is written. We even began to have rehearsals to prepare for the recording sessions a year ago. But then our realities were abruptly altered.

And so, I am in a holding pattern. Until the album is recorded and released, it is not really finished. At least not in my mind.

I do have a lot of content, however. Content from previous albums that need to be heard. I even have concert footage from the past two album releases that I need to finish uploading. There is work to be done; it just is not as exciting as writing songs.

Over the new few weeks, I will be updating my YouTube channel to include all the footage from the album release concerts for Entropy and Singularity. I also have a handful of random sketches of music that have not found a home yet.

Maybe creativity arrives in that sliver of a moment between being active and idle.

If we try too hard, perhaps we miss the moment. If we do not try, perhaps the moment never shows up.

I will let know what happens.

In the meantime, here is a sketch.

Interruptions