RPM Challenge 2010: Recap

Well then, it looks like I failed miserably at updating the blog during the actual challenge...

But on the upside, I did a FANTASTIC job of working on the actual challenge itself (which, some might venture to say, is even more important than blogging)!

Behold, my completed 2010 album! This was by far one of the greatest musical experiences I've had in the last year (beat only by recording in Nashville last Jan.) and I feel so much stronger after all of it.

This was the first time I feel like I gave 110% to the challenge (the downfall of my house and diet was proof of that) and it came back to me in spades. I was able to record 14 songs for the a-muse-d album and collaborate with vocals on 4 other songs. Also, I collaborated so much with Jeremy, an electronic/synth musician from Portland, OR that we decided to just form a side project and release a whole separate RPM album! So now you can hear my lyrics and vocals (with super fun harmonies and awesome beats) in the band Clever Things!

I suppose now that people might actually (accidentally) wander this direction, I should really start catching this thing up, eh? I'm going to throw the towel in on updating with all the lyrics and notes, but the lyrics and mp3s should be trickling onto the site over the next week so feel free to check them out there!

Dictionary Challenge: Flameout

A little something to get the ball rolling for the RPM Challenge. I feel a little dirty writing this before February, but since it's spawned from the official RPM forums I feel like I can give myself a 7-day mulligan.

The challenge was to enter two numbers--then the moderator would flip to that page and listing in a dictionary and give you the word.

My word was "flameout", which not only sounds incredibly neat but refers to failure of combustion engines related to anything from insufficient oxygen to interfering debris (such as birds or even volcanic ash).

I felt like I had struck literary gold with this one, and the muse grabbed me and gave me this ditty in 30 minutes flat:

When you look
It's not a look
It's some sort of
supernatural tractor beam
It's a weapon you aim at me

Then you laugh
Not just a laugh
It's more of an
Ancient warrior hunting song
You're singing I'm already gone

One smile from you
And I can fly
One smile from you
And it's goodbye

You were a jet
I was a bird
We were so doomed
To crash and burn
And now you say that
I'm bringing you down

I was alive
You were aloof
I wish that I'd
Been fireproof
Cuz now I know that
We'll only flameout

When you move
The way you move
It's like a serpent
Squeezing around its prey
You're taking my breath away

Then we kiss
Oh what a kiss
It's more than
Movie starlets have ever dreamed
It's your favorite ending scene

One touch from you
And I can fly
One touch from you
To make the lie

You were a jet
I was a bird
We were so doomed
To crash and burn
And now you say that
I'm bringing you down

I was alive
You were aloof
I wish that I'd
Been fireproof
Cuz now I know that
We'll only flameout

One night with you
And I can fly
One night with you
To realize

You were a jet
I was a bird
We were so doomed
To crash and burn
And now you say that
I'm bringing you down

I was alive
You were aloof
I wish that I'd
Been fireproof
Cuz now I know that
We'll only flameout

Now the hard part will be having to wait a week to record it. Still, it's given me a ridiculous adrenaline rush just from being able to pull it all together so quickly. I'm so easy to please :-D

RPM Challenge 2010

I'm gearing up for another RPM Challenge and more excited than ever! For those who don't know (and don't feel like exploring the link), the RPM Challenge is set for musicians to push themselves to record a full album (10 tracks or 35 minutes) within the 28 days of February. Last year was my first official completion of the challenge, and my first time doing the challenge in my "Girl Named Sam" serious performing outlook.

While there's no rule that says the music must be written in February, I'm hoping to really get my writing going and write all 10 songs this month. In truth, I would love to write and record about 20-30 songs in February, but things like sleep and such tend to get in the way so we'll see.

Anyway, this means there will be a sudden flux of posting for the next month while I go crazy with songwriting and drafting and muttering to myself. So enjoy!

Fill My Sky

Finished product of the commissioned love song I was working on earlier this month.

I see you
And I shake
I melt at
The way you say my name

Please
Breathe those words again

You hold me
And I'm home
So happy
In Ways I've never known

Please
Say you're mine again

And I would pull

Every star down

Just to keep

Keep you around

Don't you know that

You fill my sky

And I would steal

The sun and the moon

Just to give

Give them both to you

I hope you know that

You fill my sky

I'm falling

You catch me

Float on as

The Waves keep crashing (down)

We

Breathe each other in

You're quiet

I'm listening

Find every

Piece I've been missing (now)

We

Take the moment in

And I would pull

Every star down

Just to keep

Keep you around

Don't you know that

You fill my sky

And I would steal

The sun and the moon

Just to give

Give them both to you

I hope you know that

You fill my sky

I toyed with the idea of a hook, but in the end I decided to keep it more straightforward and flowing--I consider hooks to be the sort of "epiphany" of a song and since the tone of the song is "I know I love you, etc" I didn't think there was anything new to discover or reveal, so I just did an instrumental break into a repeated chorus.

And I would pull

Every star down

Just to keep

Keep you around

Don't you know that

You fill my sky

And I would steal

The sun and the moon

Just to give

Give them both to you

I hope you know that

You fill my sky

You keep me

I let you

My wildest dreams

Are coming true

Please

Don't let it end

Untitled Love Songs WIP

Working on a love song for a couple's anniversary. I really liked their history and backstory (from the millions of questions I asked) and I'm hoping this comes out well. There's still a high chance that I'll scrap this one, that the tone of this song will change to be more bittersweet (a la Winter Solstice) because they're in a long distance relationship...but for now this is the direction I'm going:

I would pull
Every star down
Just to keep you around
You fill my sky
I would catch
The sun and the moon
Just to give it all to you
You fill my sky

It's proving a little difficult to keep this from getting too fluffy or over the top. I think the most passionate feelings get cheezy when you say them straightforward (or say them at all). You can think, "I would die without you" all you want, but when you throw it out there with some acoustic guitar it just becomes too opera/drama for my taste.

I've got an alternate song (using that bitter/distance tone I mentioned) that I'm fiddling with for the couple as well. It's confusing to work on both at the same time, but it sort of helps when I get frustrated with one and can move on to the other:

So close your eyes
And I'll close mine
We can dream til dawn
Miles away
We dream the same
I'll be in your arms

Whichever song ends up not working out for the couple, I can promise you'll see bits and pieces of it appearing in later songs (if not completely finished up in its original state). I hate to waste good lyrics!

Winter Solstice: the process

I'm kicking myself for not updating with this when I was originally working on the lyrics, just because it would have been a nice "reveal" from how it started.

This was based off the idea of lost loves that only got to see each other during the Winter Solstice. I'm pretty determined to explore every inch of heartbreaking territory in music, it seems.

The original notes were as follows. You'll notice I almost always start with a chorus:

You'll be near
And I'll be weak
And we'll hold hands
And we won't speak
Of anything
That we can
never change

I had also started to fiddle with a hook:

I just want to say
I love the moonlight
Reflecting in your eyes
I want to scream
It isn't fair that
Our kiss is for goodbye

But the reference to speaking conflicted with the main idea of not talking in the chorus and I decided a short break and a third chorus would be more cohesive and relaxed for the tone I wanted--this needed to be about enjoying limited time, not mourning it.

I knew the last verse needed to be about pretending the night would last forever, so I used the line:

I'll pretend you're mine to keep
You can do the same

But I didn't know what rhyme to use at the beginning of the verse. I started with "We'll play games" but it was way too whimsical and light, especially for the end of a song.

The final lyrics ended up like this:

On the longest night in winter
We'll breathe slow
Like a pair of sleeping dragons
Blowing smoke
I will think you're beautiful
But you'll already know

You'll already know

And you'll be near
And I'll be weak
We'll hold hands
But we won't speak
About any of
These things
That we
can't change

On the longest night in winter
I'll get chills
From the way the world is standing
Completely still
You might want to kiss me
I hope you will

I hope you will

And you'll be near
And I'll be weak
We'll hold hands
But we won't speak
About any of
These things
That we
can't change

On the longest night in winter
Please just stay
With your head upon my shoulder
Where I know you're safe
I'll pretend you're mine to keep
You can do the same

You can do the same

And you'll be near
And I'll be weak
We'll hold hands
But we won't speak
About any of
These things
That we
can't change
On the longest night in winter

On the longest night in winter
It's not long enough at all

Introductions and Explanations

If you're looking for this blog to be a sort of play-by-play of my life, or some insight into my political or cultural views, I'm afraid you'll be deeply disappointed. I'll be using this blog 95% of the time to mutter to myself about various lyrics that are going on in my head. My own (not very private) songwriting notebook. I'm going to take a wild (albeit egotistical) guess and assume that most people reading this blog are doing so in regards to my music anyway, so might as well stick to the subject.

In a perfect world, I would scribble down some liner notes on paper, maybe add some personal doodles, and then scan the pages...but I have neither the time nor the dedication and to be honest, the process of typing, backspacing, typing, repeat has become just as soothing to my thinking as drawing smiley faces in the margins of notebooks.

Besides, nothing immortalizes our successes and failures like the internet. And I'm curious to see if half the stuff I post here ever makes it to an album.