Task 1- Spoken Word
I have never properly written a spoken word piece so this task was something new to me. The topic I picked to work on was the first idea that came into my head when thinking about the brief, and at first, I aimed to create something darker and almost Lovecraftian. I found it quite difficult to start but I once I had, the lyrics came pouring out and the mood and tone of the piece completely changed into something more hip-hop based. Overall, I really enjoyed the task as it helped me come out of my comfort-zone and I’m proud of what I made.

Written by: Georgina Kivelehan
Produced by: Eeshaan Singh-Basu
Includes samples from: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC6OPV34yxM - Al Sharpton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TwhLplrFNo - Cory Henry & Nick Semrad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFm2DCkv0KU - RuPaul

Do You Ever Wish You Could Believe in God?

I found that the most difficult part of this task was the four-chord aspect. To begin with I found that only using four chords made me feel restricted. However, when I changed the time signature and started to use chord extensions etc, I really felt it coming together to create something that sounded quite edgy and it was less obvious I was using the four-chord loop. The cut-up technique was really fun to work with. Much like with task 1, I found it difficult to start, but once I started finding rhymes and lyrical pairings, it all came together quite quickly. Using a lot of different sources to get lyrics from definitely made it easier and more interesting. Sources included H.P. Lovecraft poems, text messages from my grandad, extracts from The Bee Movie and my YouTube search history.

Hiding Behind A Newspaper Smoking A Havana

This task was the most fun so far. I have never created grime tracks before, and I don’t listen to much of it. However, I really enjoyed embodying a different character when writing the lyrics and recording them. I was heavily influenced by the way Stormzy rhymes and the types of words he uses. Listening to a lot of different grime beats online helped with creating my own beat, and I thought including Bach’s Prelude 12 was a fun feature. 

Produced by: Alex Noble

Sinister Footwear II

The main challenge in this task was creating a key change between the verse and chorus that didn’t sound out of place. I decided to write a bluesy, folk song inspired by the likes of Billy Joel and Simon & Garfunkel etc, to contrast last week’s grime track. Having more freedom with the lyrics made it slightly harder to write them, so I decided to create a bit of a story which included similar themes to ‘Mrs Robinson’. Overall I really enjoyed this task as it got me thinking more about interesting chord structures and I’m happy with the end result.

Livin' Day By Day

I really liked the words I got and came up with a story from them relatively quickly about a woman who everyone finds suspicious, particularly the narrator who makes her out to be some sort of succubus. I gave the story a bit of a twist where the audience start to realise that the narrator is perhaps an unreliable, stalker-like character, and the lady he talks about is just a normal woman. I made the music reflect the obscure story with the deep bass and wah-wah guitar. I found the lyrics quite difficult to write this week as I really wanted them to sit well within the tone of the song.

No One's Watching

Working in a pair made this song a lot of fun to write. We split the work so that I would write the music and produce the song, and Geri would come up with the vocal melody and provide the lead vocals. We worked on the lyrics together and based them loosely off of a scene from 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' where Bond's wife is murdered shortly after their wedding. We wanted to emphasize the danger that comes with being a 'bond girl' and we made the music reflect our lyrics.

Another Way to Fall

This task, although quite sad, was really enjoyable. I wanted to make something a bit more stripped back compared to most of my other songs in order to make it feel more personal, so I just used guitar and a shaker.