…and maybe playing a show or two.
I haven’t finished a complete song in over a year. I have chords lying around. And some melodies. Words have not been my friend though. I throw out just about everything I write. I’m not completely positive why lyrics have becoming so troublesome. There is some level of laziness to it. I don’t have a band. I don’t practice with anyone else. I really haven’t had any intention of playing out. I’m not recording anything. So why have new songs? Why finish ideas? There is some greater philosophical question/answer thing happening here about why we create art and so forth. But the subject of this says, I am thinking about finishing songs. Which is finally true.
I have two new songs that I rather like, at least compared to a lot of other things I’ve worked on in the last year. Defining songs here: I have two ideas in different levels of development. Song 1 has four separate parts including a verse, a chorus, a bridge and another part that I’m not sure where it goes quite yet. It also has definitive words for the chorus and a couple of lines for a verse. But the gist of what the song is about is there lyrically. I really just need to flush out some remaining thoughts and finish the words. (I don’t like to explain what things are about, and I’m not starting here) Song 2 is newer. It has two little riffs that go nicely into each other. No words at all. Not even an idea that could be turned to words. But the riffs are cool (at least I think so) and should be worked into something more polished and concrete. All the Elliott Smith I have been listening to has finally paid off into some neat finger picking licks with walking basslines. But I’ve put more thought into possible lyrics for that song than for any other music I have written in a long time. And I firmly believe that something is brewing.
I would also like to play out sometime in the near future. I miss playing out. It’s interesting to get feedback from other people. It’s nice to preform with microphones and speakers. But mostly it is just fun on a personal and completely selfish level. So maybe if I finish some of the new stuff, there will be a show in the near future. Though I am not holding myself to any of this. Though maybe with a goal in mind, new songs will find themselves in more completed form.
Something you should listen to: Bowerbirds – Northern Lights. It’s all pretty and acoustic-y with some lovely piano flourishes. First love song I have been into in a while I think. http://stereogum.com/archives/mp3/new-bowerbirds-northern-lights_069122.html
