All instruments, lyrics performed, arranged and composed by Evan McDoniels.  Photography by Evan McDoniels

He walked through circles of worlds
Magnatonic swirls ovals oak burl
A tinge of sandalwood and juniper burned into the sleeve of his shirt
The smell of camping in the red mesas of northern Arizona
A conversation with sage
Only heard when javalinas translate
To the cactus and rocks
A waft of sacred scarred into the lock
Whom, what or where was the creature to be?
Why be cataloged into the canon
Of pretenders and wallowers
When the land of Maderas 
Awaits in softest fleeces
And offerings off the coats of sheep
Building a blanket of spaceship kites
And a planet out of airplane parts and speckled eggs
This he knew when he walked into the challenge
There was one possibility to succeed and it involved 
A large amount of bravado mixed with cactus spines and rancid wine
Cowboy hats had no purpose anymore in this factory
Civility and politeness had no validity within this callous vanity

Part 3- He Walked Through Circles Of Worlds

My electronics are consumer grade,
Designed to keep you up and entertained, 
Compact disc, A to Z, VHS, laserdisc, DVD,
Betamax, Radio Shack,
Wanna see the future?
Let me take you back…

Let’s keep it digital and be discreet,
Quantize and synchronize our clocks to meet, 
CD-ROM, floppy disk,
What’s your alias?
Mine’s ‘Nyquist’
Press play, record at the same time, 
Let it roll and then rewind. 

All this emotion, 
Electrons in motion,
Let it take you for a ride,
Let’s get closer to the speed of light,
And be my…

Game Boy,
Promise me that you’re not gonna Walkman, 
This could be the Genesis of something real,
Using all my cheat codes so my heart can feel,
So tell me…

Game Boy,
Promise me that you’re not gonna Pacman, 
Leave me at the checkout feeling obsolete,
Will you find me in your memory?

I’ll be your message to the great beyond,
That golden record spinning all night long,
Electroplated, calculated, and dated,
I play a universal song.

Game Boy!

maisey moore

A song about times when I feel outside of myself. It can be unsettling or weird, but also sometimes freeing. Other than vocals, kick, and piano, all instruments in this song were made from sounds recorded in a span of 10 minutes around my apartment. Thanks to Brian Funk and Ableton for a cool found sounds speedrun challenge! The photo is my feet in slippers from a hotel in Madrid. 
Lyrics:
I'm living someone else's routine,
I'm living someone else's life,
I messed up essential parts of me,
I messed up the way I feel inside.

I woke up and thought I died,
I was just sleeping on my good side,
And as cold water falls over me,
I'm rearranging my beliefs.

I won't answer at this number,
I don't live here anymore.
If you need to reach me,
Just send out a postcard from where you want to be,
Maybe I can meet you there,
Maybe, we'll see.

Trapped inside of someone else's mind but they don't know that something's not right,
It's not too late to start over,
It's not too early to lose myself in the past,
I'd like to think the future is mine to choose.

I don't need another second,
I'm gonna buy them all!
If you don't believe me,
I'll send out a postcard from everywhere I'll be,
Now I'm feeling better,
Now I feel free.

Postcard

BF MD Kitchen Drums - Acoustic Drums recorded in my kitchen for subtle ambience.

Sounds from my Mellow Drums Ableton Live Pack: https://brianfunk.com/blog/mellow-drums-ableton-live-pack

Kitchen Drums

BF MD Captain Quirk Drums - 256 Hybrid Electro/Acoustic/Foley Drums

Sounds from my Mellow Drums Ableton Live Pack: https://brianfunk.com/blog/mellow-drums-ableton-live-pack

Captain Quirk Drums

BF MD SGE Drums - Acoustic Drums with deadening Quesadillas, played by my band Some Good Evil.

Sounds from my Mellow Drums Ableton Live Pack: https://brianfunk.com/blog/mellow-drums-ableton-live-pack

SGE Drums

The songwriting for this song was loosely based on an ultramarathon I ran in the New Mexico mountains where the weather changed so severely it caused the course to be shut down behind me and the rules of the race to change forever.  A medic gave me a windbreaker as the weather started to shift dramatically which probably saved my life since it went from 70 and breezy and full sun to 40s and then 30s with snow, sleet, severe winds in just a matter of one aid station to the next.  

It's hard to explain but the mountain kind of teaches you reverence of nature in both the fear and nurturing sense of the word.  I find this mountain, and my homestate of New Mexico in general, really sacred and try to run the ultramarathon there as often as I'm able.

Music production nerd, bonus trivia: This song took 40+ tracks and 9 send/return effects!  I have rarely made that many tracks for a production.  Not saying it made it better or worse necessarily (not a "look at me" moment) but kind of interesting how some songs can be done with just a few elements/tracks and minimal effects and others become fun and exciting with all the stops pulled.

Hope you enjoy and make your own music or art today with whimsical love!
Sincerely,
Evan (El Mudo)

Lyrics:

Setting off at dawn
To climb the mountain wall
All of us knowing
Magic would unfold

And when we asked our G-d
To abandon thought
All of the answers
Flowing within our heart

In the piñon tree
A raven’s nest
Sharing the stories
Of whether we’d be blessed

I met a gentle deer
She took me out of the storm
Into the valley
Where it was warm

Snowflakes gathered on cactus flowers
Heartbeats racing we survive the hours
Rain turn to sleet, sleet to snow
Trail markings fade from the ground below 

I called out to you 
Into the moon

Sinew stretched unto its brink
Bear bells jingling as coyote sings
Stories woven into our treads
Wet footprints dissolve and spread 

I called out to you 
Into the moon



Raven Mountain Ultramarathon

Vines

My mom and I loved potatoes so I was thinking about the way in Dia de Los Muertos you pay homage to those we've lost along the voyage and thought I'd find a way to get that into the song. The intent of this song was to relate to the general malaise we can experience at times after we've lost someone really important in our lives like our moms.  Sometimes the malaise has no strong emotion to it, just a sense of emptiness but you can take away your own meaning to any song....  


Haven’t slept so well since my mom died
Tried to eat french fries, my stomach just capsized

All the news just came too fast
Couldn’t make it last, we have a beautiful past

All these memories flow, like an ice floe
Like a lost boat, never coming home

Ballerina slippers stored in a basement bin
Remembering when, you had dreams

High above, the petrichor rain
Angels sang, to the moon
Blue heron swoon, searching for food
Sorting pebbles, and beads, odd trinkets to the sea

Of lives, lost in hate, a perfect escape
For insecure rage, tumbling down, a mountainous wave
Carrying all our ancestors, safely to their enclave by the sea

Milk and honey, an apple seed,
Pomegranates ripen, olives brighten
Our garden glistens, nobody knows what it’s like when no one listens
To what we’ve seen

Haven’t slept so well since my mom died,
Guess I’ll eat french fries, my stomach’s half its size

I carry the pain in my back now, under my heart now,
from my neck down to my toes

Planted roses in your name, tulips bloom, every spring
But things just aren’t the same, hold my heart, in a sling

Carry forward what you taught me,
Mensch to be, in your eyes

Haven’t slept so well since my mom died,
Guess I’ll eat french fries


haven't slept so well since my mom died

This is a live performance I did, on the air, for WUSB (Stony Brook University Radio) in December.  I played five songs and did a short interview (which was not included here).  All music performed and recorded using Ableton Live.

Live Set @ WUSB Fundraiser

@milkweedhummingbird

Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, audio engineer, live sound production, poet, visual artist, gardener, ultramarathoner.