The drum sounds are very much Trap in style. The song is my usual melancholy, raised to a state of grace. Or some other self-serving bullshit. I dunno...if you like it...what use are words? Using words to describe music is like using barbecue sauce to describe a sandstorm.

This Exquisite Solitude (Loss pt 2)

Imagine being in a market in Morocco, waiting for your loved one. A complete fish out of water. The lyric is kind of the dry and hot weather version of "Fool in the Rain" maybe. It's a universal theme, though. How many of us have done something stupid in the name of love?

Pass Your Test

This again?! I don't know how to describe my music! OK...Half-time drum and bass, with vocal harmonies and a singer/songwriter emphasis on telling a story. How about that? It's as good as you're going to get, I'm afraid.

Picking Off The Scabs

I wanted a lyric that appeared to mean one thing, but actually meant something very different. For those of you who are musically adept, the song features a couple of chord sequences known as "line clichés" And for the drummers among you, I'm kinda proud of the drum fill I played just before the fade.

Popular Guy

Airing dirty laundry. I worked out at around age 10 that there was something "wrong" about my mother. This song is decades of pain poured out. And maybe some catharsis for others as well. Be well...and know that the abuse you suffered was not your fault.

Broken Footsteps

It's dark. It's brutal. Kinda like a cross between Killing Joke and Nine Inch Nails. With some Gary Numan thrown in for good measure!

Forgiveness - My Kalashnikov

A lyric with a twist. A conversation with my reflection. The chord progression under the verse is the most popular chord progression of the baroque period. "La Folia" is to baroque what the "axis" progression is to pop.

Broken Together

Break me out

I'm experimenting with glitch techniques applied to a more "normal" pop song construction. With this song, I wanted to see how far I could push the differences in dynamic between the start of the song and the end.

If It Bleeds, It Leads

So what happens when introspection is seen as self-sabotage? When any criticism, regardless of whether it's accurate (heaven forbid!), is seen as gaslighting? Well...you get the following...

Where’s my validation?
I need to hear I’m right
That when we fight it lingers
And keeps you up at night

Where’s my validation?
 I need to feel you care
 That even when I’m distant 
You’d still be waiting there

This is modern love
This is where we are
Learn to drown your feelings
Learn to hide your scars

Where’s my validation?
When life is getting tough
My ego needs a tender hand
Coz love is not enough

This is modern love
This is where we are
Learn to hide your feelings
Learn to love your scars

She said…
Where’s my validation?
She said…
Where’s my validation?
She said…

This is modern love This is what we learn Hold it all together Wait your time to burn

She said…
Where’s my validation?
She said…
Where’s my validation?
She said…
Love is not enough
She said…
Where’s my validation?

Validation

Brutal rhythms, synthetic harmonies and a call to individuality. Add some Taoist philosophy and a metaphor based around chess and you've got the gist of it.

Pawn

Started out as a drummer shortly after the last ice age. 

With the advent of electricity, I grew sick of being the guy who hung around with the real musicians, so decided to teach myself to write songs. 

Years later, and studio hours too numerous to mention, I've reached the point where I don't suck at it.

I do what I can with the engineering side, but due to some industrial deafness, there's bound to be things I miss. 4kHz? What the fuck is 4kHz? Ohhhh, right....that's the area that's buried in all that tinnitus!

This is the point where most bios will pad the writer's ego, inflating self importance...which I hate, but I'm human, so here's just a bit. Spent years playing sessions, mostly for bands you've never heard of but also for a heap of adverts you probably have. Learned lots of studio craft from some very talented people. Studied production with a Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer for seven years. 

And none of it means a hill of beans in respect to the following question: is the music good? If you think so, then little else really matters, does it?

I have three studio assistants. All are feline, and none of them like asparagus.

Validation

eyesaw

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