Smallest of Lights 
Music & Lyrics by Synne Eileen
Produced, recorded & arranged by Daniel Drumm



It was a Christmas market, and the people around us were more concerned with shopping and chatting than with the music. The only reason I agreed to play here in the first place is because my dad asked, and I love my dad so it’s hard to say no to him. A loud and hectic place like this is not quite the arena to perform something personal, and the more logical choice would probably be playing Christmas carols. But I thought heck, there are limits (to musical prostitution). So I decided to make it kind of a rehearsal and played three original songs.

The people in the market were pretty inattentive - as expected. I tried to focus on the four to five people who seemed to pay attention, including you. You stood on the corner with a book in your hand. You seemed tired. I thought it was probably because of all the stress and commotion of the holidays, or from all of the noise around on the market. But I could see that you were listening, also when I told the background story to the last song.

The song was called "Smallest of Lights". 
Three years ago, 23 July 2011, I sat in a church 8km from Utøya. We were still in shock. The horrors of what had happened had not yet sunk in. Several people came up to the podium and said a few words, including a previous mineworker. The words he said stuck with me. "Beneath the ground it can get so dark that you almost forget what light looks like. But all it takes is a tiny spark. Even the smallest of lights kill the darkness. "

Three years later, here I am at a Christmas market telling this story and playing this song. From now on it will always be the song where I think of you, the man on the corner with the book in his hand.

When I had finished playing and gone down from the stage, I stood a few feet away from you talking to some friends while listening to the next act. It took about half an hour before you came up to me and asked me if I had a moment.

"That song ..." You choked up.
"You have no idea how much I needed to hear that song this exact weekend ... It's like you say, sometimes you just have to focus on the small specks of light," you said, and then you couldn’t speak anymore.

I gave you a hug and thanked you for your sincerity, but you hurried out of there before I managed to take in the pain from your tears. I don’t know what it was that burdened you this weekend, or how much darkness there is in your life.  But I wish I could tell you how much these few seconds meant to me. You reminded me how important it is to keep the soul in what you do, even when it seems futile. You reminded me why singing songs can be important. Thank you.




Smallest Of Lights (Demo)

Some selections from first film project, my score for the recent British Youth Film Academy film "All The Ordinary Angels", based on the award winning play of the same name by Nick Leather. It is adapted by Peter Spencer and directed by Simon Lovell.

"All The Ordinary Angels" centres around an Italian descended family in industrial Manchester, and their ice cream factory. The once great, now floundering "Raffa's", is being passed on to the next generation by owner and family patriarch Giuseppe Raffa as he soon retires.

He pits his sons - the hot-headed Rocco and the meek Lino - against one another in an ice-cream sell-off to determine who will take over the business. 

What start's as brotherly competition, quickly descends into insanity when the ruthless Rocco, less-than-willing factory worker Lulu, and her drug dealer older brother Joe, conspire to make their ice cream...very moreish...a scheme which crosses many lines and soon tears the family apart."

I completed the score between late 2014 and early 2015 using ProTools 11 and mainly EastWest Hollywood Orchestra, StormDrum 2.0, and Vienna Strings. 

All The Ordinary Angels (Original Score) - 8. Dirty Laundry

joVean - Only Lies

Friday I'm In Love - The Cure (acoustic cover)

"Miles Away" from the demo EP "Fireworks"

www.facebook.com/joveanmusic

joVean - Miles Away

I operate out Gamlehuset Studio, a small project studio in the Norwegian countryside, which I co-own. The studio offers everything from 1-on-1 teaching to full album production and I also use it to create my own music for film, advertising and band projects.

I am a fluent ProTools operator, and MIDI programmer and arranger. Over the years, I have gained both composition proficiency, and a an ability to take a basic song (chords, melody and lyrics) and, working with the artist, to refine the song and flesh it out into a full arrangement in any number of genres (the key ones being rock, acoustic, indie and pop).

My last big project was my first film score, for the film “All The Ordinary Angels”, based on the award winning Nick Leather play of the same name, and am itching to use this experience reach out into more film, TV and video games.

I am happy to discuss the prospect of being involved with just about anything and can work partially or entirely over the web as required, so don't feel restricted by your location. I also know financial restrictions can be problematic for musicians, so can offer students discount. Feel free to contact me for any more information.

All The Ordinary Angels (Original Score) - 8. Dirty Laundry

DanielDrumm

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