Beautiful Surreal (demo)

sitting in the backyard trying to be abstract
don’t have any process can’t make an impact
bats walk the sky from the east to the west
at the same time of night before I go to bed

I use the stove light to see in the dark
all the parts of me which don’t quiet add up
still searching for fullness it’s not quiet enough
everything shakes and then comes back to love 

the park is a one minute walk from my bedroom 
the river is further but we make the effort 
returning to all of the reasons for living 
mostly they’re simple and don’t have a meaning

I changed my curtains to let in the seasons 
I’m liking the daylight when it starts to bleed in 
I’m liking the noises which shift with the breeze 
I lie on the floorboards not sure where my feet end 

I’m so fucking sick of sadness
of shutting it all out 
I’ll open my window 
and let it all flood back

flood

Download the track for free above or pay if you want on Bandcamp: http://bit.ly/daoda_bc

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© DAODA 2023.

Lyrics:
I’m lost. Unknown.
Promised to let it go.
Why don’t you float?
Rest. Breathe in slow.
Promise, do what you’re told.
Unconscious woes.
Now, do what you’re told.

Phased out, for the first time I feel woken.
Can you hold me up?
I need you to show me.
 
About:
This track was written & recorded back in 2019 when I was still living in Manhattan. 

A lot of DAODA songs start by coming up with a picking guitar part, looping it, and building around it. This track was no different. When creating a song this way, the process is unique because it's built gradually. You never know exactly where the song is going to go & this can often take time, leaving you with an idea that's never fully finished.

In NYC, I would record the vocals in a small closet that was in our tiny bedroom. My vocal approach is typically rifling off 5-8 good takes with the intention of comping a vocal track and stacking as many vocal parts as I can on the final mix.

It goes without saying, but the track sat on my hard drive for a number of years. There's no real other explanation for this other than life gets in the way and creatively, you're always chasing something new. It's more fun to sit down and create a new song than it is to pull up an old project file & continue to work on something that's "old" to you.

My plan was to release a newer song called "Forevermore" before dropping "Hold Fast." However, it didn't make sense to put that out before this song - it would be like I'd be stepping backwards sonically.

Instead of doing some tweaks to the original session and putting out what was essentially a demo, I wanted to "complete" the song. This is the last full song I recorded while living in NYC and I felt I needed to close that loop to give the track the attention it deserved. I even found a photo from around the same era this was recorded and used it as the cover art for this track.

The guitar and bass were recorded straight to DI. Back then, I was taking a minimalist / in the box approach by using Ableton plugins for guitar/bass sounds. This could have been an aesthetic approach, laziness, or the lack of a direct inject box to use my VOX AC15 (no surprise, but neighbors don't like when you crank amps in apartment buildings). More recently, I bought AmpliTube 5 to create samples to send to hip hop producers. I tossed a couple different amp models (JC-120, Fender Twin Reverb, etc.) and the plugin instantly brought the DI tracks to life. 

I replaced the drums with the "1987" samples from a company called, Circles Drum Samples. These helped play into the different late 80's / early 90's vibe I was looking to capture while still keeping the song sounding modern.

Hold Fast

Ferdy

Nintendo Love

Getting Better

Plod Along Phenomenon

The Wind

about bad men and how society protects them boooo

power, deceiver
how dare you say it is an act of love
young girl, embrace her

one word, eyes blurred
she never really had the chance
believe her frustration

our blood on your hands
our blood on your hands

change course, re write the past
cause he knows his time is coming soon
speak loud, take the huge grant

and he’ll be a right wing conspirator
and he’ll claim that they’re just out to get him
hide the truth, intimidate her

our blood on your hands
our blood on your hands

our blood

a memory: maybe

Chords

Hope you find something that moves your mind.
Take care.

Chords

barthaarschneider

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