This song was distributed to streaming services this evening, so it will go live in a few days on Spotify, itunes, Google Music, etc. You can sign up for a notification when it gets released here >> https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/falala/setting-sun
I was up until 4:30 am tweaking the mix, then put the finishing touches on today. The project was challenging on so many levels. Financially, emotionally, musically. Wow.
Before I proceed, I want to give special thanks to Julie Delano. Do you HEAR that BASS? I recall one of her fb posts that she’s not the best bass player. WTF? Her bass is everything. She’s written for, sang, and played for so many bands including Gold, Dream Bitches, Kansas State Flower, The Leader.
You know what, I’m just going to come out and say it. Let the dominoes fall where they will. (I have heard it circle back to me in my younger days that people think I’m conceited.) I am so happy with the way this song came out. I wasn’t so sure before my late night binge, but now…I’m digging those balances, those “sounds”.
What were the hurdles with this one? For one, I ran out of money. Stupid, silly, aging, no name songwriter that I am. I really really really really thought so much of myself that I’d actually get chosen for a super competitive songwriter grant. So I thought I’d take (*) to the end with current producer. Then, of course, the grant rejection letter. Matt Roth was very very generous with his time and went above and beyond fair trade, but asking people to do things for free, when they have their own super talented projects to attend to, that’s not my jam. It was time to do this on my own. And wow, mixing. Wo,w, wow, wow. It’s a whole other animal. But yeah, I learned so much from working with him, I was finally able to wrap my brain (and knobs) around it. I could never have done it without his help on the other songs. And it is by no means the end of our creative endeavors. I hope (and sense) he agrees.
Aside from mixing, the huge issue was…. the scream…I recall Julie suggesting “I had to scream” when I kvetched that I was having vocal challenges in that section. I never was able to scream it out. 10 takes, and I still couldn’t do it. And now what? Well, the world is going to end. We’re all going to get covid19 and die. Suddenly I don’t give a damn about anything, or how it’s been done, or how it should be done, or changing course mid—no end—project. It’s like you have a plan, then suddenly you drop that plan, and you’re suddenly free, nothing to lose. That’s where my 4am stint comes in. I chopped up that song in a remix. Literally, the song looked like a ribbon on my software, like a birthday present ribbon. And I took e-scissors, and I made those e-scissors chop, chop, chop it into little pieces, and I copied and pasted those little guitar waling fragments into that big gaping hole of silence where the scream should have been. So now when you listen, right after the bridge..it gets weird and repititive and it sounds like there’s static or like an old scratched vinyl record. I really really was trying to get the timing to be perfection, like a hybrid EDM rock record, but I couldn’t pull it off. I think the uniqueness makes up for the transgression of perfect beats…but…time to move on. Why? Like I said, the world is ending, we’re all going to die. F*&Cl it. And it’s been a year since I wrote the songs for this album. NEXT…