Feb 2022 progressive rock
Been slow going FAWM for me, past couple weeks have been nuts...
This is one of those had-the-music-laying-around-but-had-no-lyrics things...I'm notorious for making a track and then needing words and my brain suddenly running away so I shelve it for the time being. I said heck with it and sat down today and wrote these. These past few years have left me all but wondering if I'm on the right planet..the societal structures, institutions, etc still look like they pretty much always did, but it feels like the spirit animating them has morphed into something dark amidst creeping authoritarianism and disinformation...like a simulacrum of what they used to be.
Physical instruments:
Traben Array Limited 5 bass
Squier Vintage Modified Strat
Ibanez SA120 electric
Roland XP-80
Rhodes Stage 73 + Phase 90 + Twin Reverb
Hammond B-3 with Leslie
Virtual instruments:
Roland Butt TR-808, Juno-60, and SH2 synth plugins
Korg Wavestation synth plugin
EZ-Drummer
Presonus Ampire
V1
Winds are blowing cold
Atmospheric change
I feel its weight
So many things I thought I knew
Are now unclear
The shapes look mostly the same
At surface glance
All seems unchanged
But the animating force behind
Has somehow been replaced, I fear
C1
Underlying sense
Of existential dread
Cannot quite nail down
The unease in my head
A spirit lost in space
I feel misplaced
Out of place
I feel misplaced
V2
I’m really not paranoid
But can’t deny what I feel
A constant background noise
It’s hard to find a common ground
When factions can’t agree what is real
C2
When all our dreams seem lost
Or somehow out of reach
We’re fertile ground for lies
Arcane conspiracies
Our pulses start to race
We feel misplaced
Out of place
I feel misplaced
In this place
<guitar solo>
Around the block again
Sad and baleful lament
Reaching out to hope
Another winter of discontent
Yet I hope for grace
I feel misplaced
Out of place
I feel misplaced
Lost in space
I feel misplaced
@ampersandman Mar 2022
I remember I listened to this twice already, but before commenting I should honor this epic more by really listening and not using it as background music. This arrangement is stellar, the trap HiHats came as a surprise first, but when the drums come in and take over they make sense as an element. I also like the chord choices, very classy 70s style.
On top your vocals shine and the long notes express the sentiments of the lyrics just right. Also great job on the mix, everything is really pro sounding. You obviously put so much work and thought in your tracks, FAWM should have a mechanism for counting them double.
@zecoop Feb 2022
Completely 100% digging on that guitar - love that sound! Great slow groove and the drum program works perfectly to balance the warm body of the music. There's a bit of tenseness in the background (from the drum) but a desire to relax and find calming. This song worked really, really well, with a melody that takes some really nice surprising turns. Suitably epic. :)
@hbusse Feb 2022
Excellent, and what an apt lyric for our cultural climate at the moment. (I also sense a driving/animating force, I believe a spiritual one, behind all the disinformation and inability to agree on what is even real. Lord save us!)
The slow washiness of it and the broadness of those chords, wow. There is a moment in the chorus, when your voice reaches up, that feels very Sting to me. Thanks for giving voice through your art to what so many feel in our time; this is an important heart cry.
@dock Feb 2022
This sounds epic! I can relate to that feeling of being on the wrong planet.
@nadine Feb 2022
I didn't expect these electronic 808 beat on a spacey prog song but it works so well. The moment when the drum change is epic. A prog hymn to calm down. Very nice build.
@nancihobson1 Feb 2022
definitely an out in space vibe here, I really like the piano. Great lyrics, I can relate. The music fits the lyrics well here. enjoyed the listen :)