Pandemo
‘Let me in’ was my first taste of what I could accomplish with a lot of time, effort and playing different instruments. ‘Production’ (and I use the term very loosely) was slowly improving from reading articles on EQs/compressors and actually trying to introduce some method rather than the pick and mix of previous releases.
So I bought a Rode NT USB as a treat for myself and began recording a new song. That song was ‘fucking the straw dog’ (later begrudgingly renamed ‘walking the straw dog’). On the third day of recording I entirely started again with some different mic angles, techniques and takes. Somewhere there I started playing the four chord sequence of ‘The Kraken’. That song was written pretty fast. I spent maybe two days writing those sections and the next few tightening up. In the process I discovered a few new tricks. I worked on backing vocal levels and got a little better at compressing vocals to retain some roughness but sweeten them up a bit with layers. It’s a song about the disconcerting trend of dismissing established rational viewpoints in favour of faith based ‘intuitionist’ leanings. An article by a political science professor (Eric Oliver) had quite a big impact on this song. The Kraken was finished but ‘straw dogs’ was still sounding awful in comparison in terms of clarity etc.
All of those tricks were then ported over to ‘walking the straw dog’. That was pretty crucial.
”Walking the straw dog’ is one of those big American acoustic ballads. Big on tune, big on emotion and feeling. It is bloody fantastic and once I heard it once I kept on going back to it, time and time again. If you listen to one song from this EP, let it be this one”
Using all this new trickery and a copy of iZotope Ozone 9, some new headphones and a slightly higher standard I decided to look back at ‘Let me in’.
I re-mixed the song entirely from the DAW and threw it into Ozone, spending some time trying to get some kind of similarities over the three songs. If there is a lesson here it is to sit on a song for a while to allow for better perspective rather than getting all excited and throwing it onto stream as soon as possible… All part of the journey. Stepping stones man…
“The words are bloody fantastic people. I’m interpreting them as two parallel stories – perhaps wrongly – one I can’t fail but to hear a story about flooding, but wait there’s another level. This is about life, the modern world. It’s about wanting sanctuary from all of that. I may be wrong, as I said, but that’s what I’m hearing. I’m fairly sure there are other, equally valid, ways of interpreting them.”
So what you have here is not just a kick ass record but an evolution of sound from one voice and guitar to something bigger. If it seems weird, then that’s because it’s the music my 17 year old, 21 year old and 35 year old self could all enjoy. My hope is that I can make enough money in the band fund that someone who actually knows what they are doing can step in and help me with my next section of the journey.
Thanks for reading.
Brownie
I created a play list that basically takes you through ages 16-34 to provide
some context of the sounds in the EP/demo. Pretty hard to keep it lean but I think this is the most honest reflection of my journey so far. Punk to folk with a minor layover in psychedelia.