WIP #4 - Parallels in Spacetime

This is one of my more fully-developed songs; you may have heard it in an earlier, instrumental form a few years ago.  I'm really curious to hear what people think about this song in particular, since it is as close to being "done" as anything on this site.  How does it flow?  How are the lyrics, both in content and delivery?  Balance issues?  I may redo the drum tracks, but I'm pretty happy with the instrumentation otherwise.


Parallels in Spacetime by brotherwren

http://haoma.neonphog.com/music/demos/parallels.mp3

Lyrics

you could try to sleep
close the door and dim the lights
and try not to forget what came over me

i could try to pause, i
essentialize and redact the lies and
stop at the sudden smell of clover

these moments hanging high
like electric lights in a sunlit sky
arrive and recall what is missing

another day is gone
another night to spend alone another
time another time another time another time another

(bridge)

you could try to sleep
the solitude of a sightless smile
and hope for dreams to come and take you over

i could look at you and think
why i didn't think i'd fall
and take a look behind at my footsteps

(bridge)

you could try to dream
lose yourself in another time
and maybe find another life to enter

i could do the same
for time is just another dream
and maybe you are waiting for me there

illuminate, but never blind
these electric lights in a sunlit sky
i swore that i never would be that way

we could intertwine
intersect between the lines
we could be parallels in space-time

and oh,
what a wonderful thought we shared that night
and oh,
what a powerful loss we could barely face
and oh,
what a comfortable sigh behind closed eyes
and oh,
what a vulnerable time to be alive

WIP #3 - Kzing

Why Kzing? It's about as meaningless as this song. Maybe I'll rename it; thoughts?

Features:

• heavily distorted violin solos
• ethereal strings
• synthesized harpsichords and trumpets
• audio of me riding a CTA bus

You see?  Random.

http://haoma.neonphog.com/music/demos/kzing.mp3

Kzing by brotherwren

WIP Track #2 - Azan

It seems only fitting that I should be coming back to this during Ramadan.  I wrote it while living in Cairo, and the whole song is centered around my impression of the Adhan.  I was walking down a local street near my apartment one day, and there was one mu'azzin giving the call to prayer at that moment that totally struck me.  He would take one note and just SIT there, only moving up a half-tone every now and then for ornamentation as he finished his phrases.  The sheer beauty and simplicity of two adjacent notes captured me, and I got home determined to somehow get it out there in my own music.  Thus this sound-collage, "Azan," was born.  In it, I tried to recreate some of the characteristics of the Adhan in Cairo that stand out most to me: the intermittent flow between relative quiet and sudden sonic upheaval; the cacophonous joy of a hundred voices lifted, each independent of the other yet all directed towards the same object and purpose; the simple structure, decorated by vocal embellishment; the unexpected magic that can come out of notes that don't (at first glance for a Western ear) go together.

This is a recent incarnation---I have added vocal tracks and made it murkier (which I'm okay with, this is also a characteristic of the Adhan in big cities).  I also made the syth tracks a little less discordant.  At first, it really did sound like the "Jaws" theme, or something out of a cheesy zombie movie.  Back to nice happy major chords.  I'm really curious to hear what people like and dislike in this song; it's not the most conventional piece, but it is really simple, perhaps to the point of boredom.

Azan by brotherwren

It is time
Azan
Silence breaks
Shatters in sound

Carry me
Azan
Above streets
Pull me down

It is time
Azan
Day is long
Give me pause

Sleep by me
Azan
Night is come
Announce dawn

It is time
Azan
Heavy sky
Cast off by voice

It is time
Azan
Nothing
Changes

WIP track #1 - "erech"

Instrumental, recorded in Garageband with live guitar and bass. Why "erech"? Because I needed a name that captured the mood, and where else to go but Middle Earth? My main gripes:

• Drum loops are boring. Need better loops! Or live drums!
• Bass may be too high -- but then again, it's a key instrument in this mix.
• I'd like to have a live instrument take over the synth oboe.

Erech by brotherwren

Please, please, feedback is good!

Moving into two projects

So, there's lots of news. I'm starting up an actual band with a drummer and a guitarist, and a lot of the rock tunes I had been working on are now turning into material that we'll be performing as a group, rather than as a solo project. At the same time, I have a lot of stuff I've composed in Garageband over the years that doesn't really lend itself to a rock vibe -- it's too instrumental and ambient for that. I think, then, that the next step is to create two projects, each one a bit more manageable. The first is to finalize some of my Garageband stuff and release it as a solo -- part of me wants to bring in Kevin and make another Afternights collaboration CD. The other stuff will be recorded acoustically with live instruments and released as a stripped-down, performable series of tracks. I've got some good acoustic versions of some TLB songs already laid down, but they need drum tracks and possibly more guitar work before they're ready. Meanwhile, then, I'll focus on getting this electronic stuff polished away. It's sat on my hard drive too long.

Album progress

Things are coming along nicely. Dave's guitar does just the trick when I want nice jangly IN TUNE arpeggios, so I mostly did the slow stuff. I also discovered that I do have some pretty nice guitar work down from last summer that I can still use, so I'm looking at a good five-six songs basically down already (sans vocals, which is blah). I also had the extreme pleasure of recording the setar for the first time. It sounds wicked cool, even if it forced me to hear all the little problems in my technique. Here's where I'm now at:

Woodland cave (Setar song) -- I'll probably have to re-do the whole thing, since the setar intro was meh and the instruments weren't quite in tune with each other, but it sounds AWESOME.
Exposed (needs bass)
Trigun song (needs title) :)
When I am sane (yes!!)
Dirt (still good from last year)
Paste
Emily (has good guitars, just needs an electric when I get home)
Flowers (still has good guitars, although the rest of the song ..?)

So things are looking good!

Winter plans

This is just to say that I'm planning to record a short set of acoustic pieces next week. I'll be in Evergreen with my parents, no noise, no neighbors, no distractions, so it should be idea conditions. I have my fiddle, setar, tenor, and guitar with me, and I don't plan on using any software (partially because I installed a new system and no longer have Garage Band on my computer), so it'll just be live playing through my little recording box. The songs I hope to have done will be:

• Exposed (Tastes Like Burning)
• Green Lights (Tastes Like Burning)
• My little song
• Emily
• Paste (Tastes Like Burning)
• bassline (unnamed)
• dropD song (unnamed)
• woodland cave (ida)
• trigun-style instrumental
• dirt
• Maps and Legends (cover) / King of Birds (cover)
• Golden Age
• Maybe something by kingsbury manx