Polaroids

A recent discussion (which you’ll see posted here soon) has gotten me thinking about my songwriting.

I’ve recently written several new songs in a short amount of time and I’ve been listening to them in order over the last few days to get a feel for where I want to take the arrangements…as you all know, I typically post raw demos/1st takes to SoundCloud and then go back through to determine how best to approach further production.

Now, all my songs, for better or worse, are about me. I’m an “I, Me, Mine, You, Us” singer instead of a “They, Them” storyteller.

I talk about what’s on my mind and in my heart. That’s how it’s started and while much has been written and debated about the merits and quality of such songs, these are the songs I write. They may not be much but they’re honest and they’re all I’ve got.

I strive to write songs that people will enjoy listening but honestly, the audience part of making music takes a secondary role to me making sure I get everything I need to say out onto the page and into the chords as possible. 

Thus, every song I’ve ever written is a diary entry of sorts. How did I feel on any given day about any given thing…listen to the song and you’ll know where my head was.

Well…because this last batch of songs came so quickly it’s interesting for me to hear the progression. There’s a definite arc and flow from beginning to end…it’s so obvious that I wonder if it’s not…toooooo obvious haha.

Then again, I don’t think anyone would accuse me of subtlety. 😉

Using the power of SoundCloud (really just the playlist feature I recently discovered haha) I decided to put these most recent songs together in order. Listening to them together with a bit of distance, my ears hear them as one of those old flip books of individual photos that create the image of a running horse. Remember those?

One note – the very first song in the list was written quite some time ago but plays a critical role in the arc of this batch of songs. It’s the seed from which Honey Sky – Mended Heart and My Beating Heart grew.

Shortly there after, the next three songs were written, I believe on consecutive days. Then Ghosts came that weekend maybe (was written over the course of two or three days) and then finally, this past Sunday Guess We’ll See came to life.

To me I see things as starting low, climbing high then dropping a bit and then crashing completely before coming back up a bit and leveling out.

Listen to the Lithium Diaries here.

What do you all think?