After two years I finally managed to finish this track by filling it out with bass, guitar, drums, piano and strings, and it really sounds fantastic.

I'm still really proud of this song, and incredibly proud to add it to the growing set of demos known as Puzzle Pieces. I'll hopefully be recording a lot more of those very soon.

This song was about a girl I once loved, to remind her just how much. Sweet, simple, and I'll never forget the place this came out of. I hope it takes you all back to the times you felt invincible, too.

Liners:

Piano, Drums, Strings, Additional Guitars, Vocals and Lyrics: Alex Roche
Bass: Anesu Shamu
Electric Guitar: Ryan Trollip
Acoustic Guitar: Cobus Potgieter
Photography: Amie Ferreira
Production, Mastering and Layout: Alex Roche

Some links: 
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Two-Lefts-Right-of-Wrong/121398171204763
Twitter: @twoleftsright 

Copyright on Amie's artwork remains with her. Should she feel more credit is needed, please let us know.

First and Last (Demo)

In a flurry of new song creation, I recently decided to go back to this track to make it feel a little less mid-heavy and bright in the mix. I really like how it turned out as a result, and it's the perfect complement to the full band version of 12.1.11.

The first song I committed to Puzzle Pieces, the final mix, once all the demos of the record are complete, will be the last track of a 12 track album, the first being 12.1.11. Below is my original description of the track:

I had this track swirling around in my head for a good six months before some time, at the beginning of this year, I found the courage to put it to music for my friend long lost. It surpasses its sibling, a demo I put together last year for her funeral, 12.1.11, in every aspect and I am immensely proud of it.

I came back to it at the end of April and fleshed it out from a piano, drum and bassline track to one with crunchy guitars and bells and orchestral swells on top of all of it. Add in some vocals, and mix it with a bit of an ethereal vibe and we get this, a track I'm even prouder of because it's my first full band mix that sounds amazing.

This is the first song I've finished in a project I'm calling "Puzzle Pieces".

Essentially, this song's about missing someone you care about, whether they're away temporarily or permanently, and all the questions that come with you longing for their presence. A sad one, perhaps, but one she'd be proud of. I hope you are, too.

Liners: 
Lyrics and all music except bass and guitars: Alex Roche
Bass: Anesu Shamu
Guitar: Ryan Trollip
Photography: Stefanie Fink
Production, Mastering and Layout: Alex Roche 

Some links: 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twoleftsright
Twitter: @twoleftsright 
Stephanie Fink Photography on Facebook: www.facebook.com/StefanieFinkPhotography
Copyright on Stefanie Fink's artwork remains with her. Should she feel more credit is needed, please let us know.

January Rain (Remastered Demo)

It is with great pride I finally share this song with the world. 12.1.11 was the first song I ever full wrote on piano, and I started writing it as this pretty ballad on 12 January 2011. Then I got an email from a dear friend's Aunt: My best friend, Natasha Ballard, had died from complications following an attempted suicide a few weeks earlier.

Then 12.1.11 became what it was today. I finished the song, wrote the lyrics I thought she would need to hear, and I recorded an acoustic demo of the track using crappy DAW drums and a muffled vocal take because my Samson mic wasn't as crystal as the Rode mic I use in projects today. 

It was the start of something, and the song was played at her funeral, as I'd requested. Later that year I got Ryan in to lay down bass and I redid the drums to sound more real and more lively, and then the track sat for a while.

Fast forward to three years later and coming off the high of finally finishing First and Last, I went back to this, added the keys and strings it deserved, laid down a vocal take with as much passion as I could muster, mixed and mastered it in a few days, and here we have it: the song for my best friend, as it was meant to be heard: as the first track on Puzzle Pieces, whenever she is ready.

Rest in Peace, Lady. May the music guide you home.

Liners: 
Lyrics and all music except bass and guitars: Alex Roche
Bass: Ryan Trollip
Production, Mastering and Layout: Alex Roche

Some links: 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/twoleftsright
Twitter: @twoleftsright 

12.1.11 (Demo)

This track was the first song we ever put to music. It's a track that chronicles that initial pull of love - the honeymoon period of courtship, a new relationship, or even a best friendship, and that feeling of never wanting it to change.

We're really proud of this track, not only for how it turned out, but for the journey it symbolises in the context of this record - this song was written in January 2009, and it's finally seeing the light of day two and a half years later. That's what this record feels like in some sense - tracks we've had in our head for a lifetime that we can't wait to share.

Liners:
Lyrics and Male Vocals: Alex Roche
Other Instruments Except Additional Drums: Michael Bacich
Female Vocals: Catia Frazao
Additional Drums: Ludwig Bouwer
Photography: Amie Ferreira, Billy Hargis, Brandi Buckler and Michael Stopforth
Layout: Alex Roche
Production: Ludwig Bouwer
Mastering: Michael Nicholson

Some links:
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Two-Lefts-Right-of-Wrong/121398171204763" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Facebook</a>
<a href ="http://www.twitter.com/twoleftsright"> Twitter </a>

Copyright on all photos remains with the creator of the artwork. Should they feel more credit is needed, please let us know.



Don't Go

I had this track swirling around in my head for a good six months before some time, at the beginning of this year, I found the courage to put it to music for my friend long lost. It surpasses its sibling, a demo I put together last year for her funeral, 12.1.11, in every aspect and I am immensely proud of it.

I came back to it at the end of April and fleshed it out from a piano, drum and bassline track to one with crunchy guitars and bells and orchestral swells on top of all of it. Add in some vocals, and mix it with a bit of an ethereal vibe and we get this, a track I'm even prouder of because it's my first full band mix that sounds amazing.

This is the first song I've finished in a project I'm calling "Puzzle Pieces".

Essentially, this song's about missing someone you care about, whether they're away temporarily or permanently, and all the questions that come with you longing for their presence. A sad one, perhaps, but one she'd be proud of. I hope you are, too.
Liners: 
Lyrics and all music except bass and guitars: Alex Roche
Bass: Anesu Shamu
Guitar: Ryan Trollip
Photography: Stefanie Fink
Production, Mastering and Layout: Alex Roche 
Some links: 
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Two-Lefts-Right-of-Wrong/121398171204763 
Twitter: @twoleftsright 
Stephanie Fink Photography on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StefanieFinkPhotography
Copyright on Stefanie Fink's artwork remains with her. Should he/she feel more credit is needed, please let us know.

January Rain (Demo)

So this is my audition for Cobus Potgieter's Youtube Band Project, which recently opened up its criteria to accepting international applicants, which is awesomesauce. I'm really proud of the track that I wrote for this and I'm stoked that is project is being pioneered by a fellow South African.

As for the YTBP stuff, the link to January Rain, the demo I would consider my second audition track is here: http://soundcloud.com/twoleftsrightofwrong/january-rain-demo.

I think most of the rest I need to say is either in my audition form or in the little preamble-testimonial where I speak really fast for 2 minutes about stuff.

Those of you who just want to download the song, the standalone copy of the live demo is here: http://soundcloud.com/twoleftsrightofwrong/first-and-last-ytbp-audition, and like I said, I'm really proud of it, so give it a listen.

First and Last - Cobus YTBP/Kickstarter Audition Track - Vocals

So this is the track that I wrote to and recorded in around an hour for Cobus Potgieter's Youtube Band Project.

As I said in my audition track floating around somewhere on my account, this was a track that I was really proud of. I think the vocals turned out really well considering it was a fairly live track where I took my second or third vocal runthrough of the entire track. Other than that, there's no EQ'ing or levelling or mixing at all, besides the bit of reverb on my voice and a normalising of the final track so it didn't distort.

I'm really looking forward to possibly embellishing on this one a little to make it into a full Puzzle Pieces demo at some point, adding strings and drums and piano and bass and all that good stuff, but we'll see how the auditions go first.

So here it is, and I hope you all enjoy it.

First and Last (YTBP Audition Demo)

This is a song about hope.

This song was one that I actually wrote around 2010 using similar stems to "Sara". What drew me to this as a separate track was the driving drum line which I'd later reuse in the alternate mix of Sara that I put together this year.

But, because of that drum line, I created an entirely new song, and it's certainly one about heartbreak, but, I think, one that purveys hope in what often feels like the most hopeless of situations. 

Then, two years later, I came back to, and recorded and mixed the entire track in about three days. Mixing-wise I went for something that I feel is a little more organic - a slip-up I felt with regards to the slight over-production of January Rain, and I like the very natural sound.

So, this one's for you guys, and I hope it heals you.

Liners: 
Lyrics: Alex Roche 
All Instruments: Michael Bacich
Photography: Julia "Akuzeku"
Production, Mastering and Layout: Alex Roche 
Some links: 
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Two-Lefts-Right-of-Wrong/121398171204763 
Twitter: @twoleftsright 
Akuzeku on deviantArt: http://akuzeku.deviantart.com/ 
Copyright on Julia's artwork remains with her. Should he/she feel more credit is needed, please let us know.

One, Two, Three, Four (Demo)

This was a group effort. One More Year took three years to write, record, and release, as the final story in our book of Handwritten Notes. 

A story of “getting over it”, we will never forget the patience, tenacity and perserverance as every single soul involved in the making of Handwritten Notes chipped in.

This collaboration created a beautiful, full, rock ‘n roll track that this record felt like it was missing at times, and every single one of us is immensely proud of what this song means, both in concept and execution.

To Alex Roche, Ryan Trollip, Anesu Shamu, Ludwig Bouwer, Catia Frazao and Lily Zwennis.

Here’s to us.

Liners: 
Lyrics, Arrangement, Vocals, Piano, Drums: Alex Roche 
Female Vocals: Catia Frazao 
Backing Vocals: Anesu Shamu 
Lead, Rhythm and Bass Guitars and Additional Arrangement: Ryan Trollip 
Additional Piano: Lily Zwennis 
Additional Arrangement: Ludwig Bouwer
Photography: Amie Ferreira, Billy Hargis, Brandi Buckler and Michael Stopforth
Layout: Alex Roche 
Production and Mastering: Alex Roche
 
Some links: 

<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Two-Lefts-Right-of-Wrong/121398171204763" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Facebook</a>
<a href ="http://www.twitter.com/twoleftsright"> Twitter </a>

Copyright on all photos remains with the creator of the artwork. Should they feel more credit is needed, please let us know.

One More Year

Part epic, part hypnotic and part lullaby, this track was my first attem,pt at writing a song like Chris Martin of Coldplay.

I had no idea at the time, but it turned into something greater: a chance at rebirth – my own person take on the sounds of Heaven – this swelling, hypnotic lullaby of peace.

I’m not sure if everybody will hear it like that, but I certainly hope so, because I hear it as simply, “gorgeous”.

Liners: 
Lyrics, Arrangement, Additional Piano and Vocals: Alex Roche
Backing Vocals: Ryan Trollip
 Bass, Additional Drums, Additional Organ and Additional Arrangement: Ludwig Bouwer
All Other Instruments: Michael Bacich 
Photography: Amie Ferreira, Billy Hargis, Brandi Buckler and Michael Stopforth
Layout: Alex Roche 
Production: Ludwig Bouwer 
Mastering: Michael Nicholson

Some links: 

<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Two-Lefts-Right-of-Wrong/121398171204763" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Facebook</a>
<a href ="http://www.twitter.com/twoleftsright"> Twitter </a>

Copyright on all photos remains with the creator of the artwork. Should they feel more credit is needed, please let us know.

Tomorrow

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Two-Lefts-Right-of-Wrong/121398171204763

Two Lefts Right of Wrong