So I've officially started writing songs for the up and coming EP I'm hoping to record in June with the illustrious Evan Van Kirk. We've settled dates kinda-sorta, but things are still a bit up in the air. Hopefully the chips will fall nicely and I shall be on my way up to Oregon this summer.
I know it seems rather late to just start writing for an album that's supposed to be recorded in just four months, but... honestly, it's scary. I used to write lyrics (lyrics that I'm not very happy with) just for the purpose of recording it in my bedroom, not really caring what they sound like or what they really mean. Whatever popped into my head at the time was whatever I wrote down onto some scratch of paper and they suddenly became song lyrics. And as far as music went, I was happy with four chord progressions with two verses and two choruses and maybe a bridge here and there. I wasn't too worried about complexity and I didn't put the time necessary into music.
Now, well, things are different. I find myself staring blankly at the keys and at the notebook, writing things down then crossing them off. Playing something, then stopping and doing it again. I'm just too afraid that I'll play the notes the wrong way or write something down that's too obvious or too vague or too overdone. I'm just scared. I'll be recording something that's supposedly going to be up on the market for strangers to critique, so I want to make something that is worth people's time to listen to. Ideally, this will be something that I won't just share with my friends, but with the world, with music bloggers and critics. Strangers. I don't want to be caught off guard with crappy, poorly-put-together songs with overdone chord progressions and lyrics going along the lines of "I love you," and try to tell the world at large that I'm good enough to be on iTunes. I want to be worth it. I want a stranger to actually BUY my EP. Maybe he would find one of the songs on Youtube or Myspace and say, "This is just what I was looking for" and go on iTunes and put 6 bucks into something that I made (Me!). I know this is audacious and rather silly to think about. But it's what I want.
I want these songs to be mine, about my experiences and my life. After all, the one thing I've learned through all my years in English class is to Write What You Know. I don't know that much, but I know a lot about where I've been.
Anyway, it's just scary to write nowadays. And when you have conflicting music tastes like mine (think DJ Tiesto, Jonsi, Jon Foreman, and Yann Tiersenn all mixed together), it becomes even more difficult to write, because you don't know how you want things to sound. Evan tells me to not worry about style, because style will be an outcome of whatever sounds you make. I think he's right. It's just hard to put that into practice.
Anyway, so now I decided to get over this fear of not saying things right or playing things right, and I've just started playing. So far, what's come out is... well... really... good. Not to brag, but I'm just ecstatic about these songs.
I feel that this is God's curse on me, but whatever I write turns out to be religious. Perhaps it's because religion is the thing my mind is obsessed with (Not my choice). I've never been in love (Close, but no cigar!), so it's hard to write about that. I want to start writing more optimistic songs-- even if it's just senseless feel-good jive, I think it would be worth it. Everything I write is doleful and monotonous and about my failure as a human being.
The sun shined yesterday.
Those kinds of things need to be put into song (Even if every other artist does the same thing).
So yeah...
I still haven't pieced things together yet as far as the structure of the album (let alone the structure of the songs), but there will be lots of instrumentals. Oh! And this album is becoming more and more piano-based. This is odd, because guitar is my first instrument. But these past two semesters, my piano knowledge has exploded into something much better.
I also want there to be some sort of correlation with the songs. It'd be amazing to make an album with a recurring message. Something that's not cheesy. But just a meaning.
I was hoping that I could've posted pictures of the two pages of staff that I wrote for a piano piece, but, Lo and Behold (Whatever that means), the binder they were in was left in the English Department. Agh!
So I still owe you two more blogs for this month.
Much excitement and all that,
Isaac.
