May 31st, 2010
(Goodness, I'd better write something ... it's been a while since I've blogged.)
The second CD is finally getting finalized. This time last week we were four songs from the end of the new material, and I write this, I am now down to one song complete, one very near completion, and two songs with solid base tracks recorded. It will be a matter to selecting the best 10 or 12 songs from the collection and finding the right order for the CD. Artwork to follow that.
The first song in "the new batch" is called "Everything" and it came about in a most extraordinary way. I had an idea of the chord progression I wanted for several weeks, but no thoughts on the key or the lyrics. Just some chords that sounded pretty. Then a friend on a message board I participate in posted some translations to the text from The Emerald Tablet.
Electricity! I was blown away that such a work had existed and it catalyzed me into a song-finishing frenzy. First, the magic mystic nature of the words meant I needed to find something non-standard for key: I settled on B-flat instead of a more typical A or C or whatever. The guitars twang nicely at that key for some reason. Then I arranged it with a couple of jangly guitars, one in each ear and a shitload of reverb slapped onto them, and finished the guitar part by making a third, centred, very quiet part playing dissonant chords. It gave it a dreamy sound that was expansive and magic. Finally, for the chorus, I used two quiet keyboard enhancements in 6ths and 7ths to the chorus chords so that the dreaminess was further enhanced.
Time for the lyrics. I got as much of the text of The Emerald Tablet into the song as I could without making it a parrot job. I took the essence of each of the translated pieces and formed them into modern-language lyrics. (examples: "Now ... now is the time / For truth / For me and you" and "Carried by the wind and warmed by the sun / The time to use what we have learned has begun".) Once I had a coherent set of lyrics I sang it twice—the main vocal and a shadow vocal to fill out the sound (all those twangy guitars can easily bury a single vocal line pretty quickly). The result is ... well, it's a very good song, I think. I am very happy with it. Drums and bass are driving like a pretty standard rock song, but some pretty cool stuff goes on above that solid foundation.
In any case, it's been a very good week, and that song (or, rather, the inspiration posted online by my friend) has really kicked off the final push to the end of the songs very nicely. With just a bit more work, I'll have got them all recorded and mixed down to computer. "Everything's coming together right now ..."
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