53 posts tagged with melancholy.
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These Few Hours (Original Soundtrack)
Instrumental piece I recorded for the Short, "These Few Hours".
High Tide (Soundtrack Composed for a Silent Short)
This is a piece I recorded for a silent short comprised of Public Domain footage from 1936 taken from the Prelinger Archives. let me know if you'd like me to share the video.
Realization, Remembrance, Regret
Song four from Creature Of Habit. [more inside]
What It Did to You
Smooooth, sloooow reggae featuring a dreamy brass/ebow instrumental break, "sensitive" percussion, a falsetto bridge, and a sweet guitar solo at the end. [more inside]
Separate Ways
Pensive piano interspersed with electronic outbursts and a broad, burbling middle section. [more inside]
Spanish Moss (again)
Photographer
Whispy male vocals and plenty of air for dream-weaving delicately frame this ethereal song. While "Photographer" is one of Ummagma's more melancholy songs, it's far from depressing. This one stands in the light.
Features male vocals by Alexx Kretov (Ukraine).
the degenerate case
A trace of various examinations of questions I have had about melody, beauty, tradition. This is not the degenerate case, but rather it is about the degenerate case. [more inside]
What's Not Being Said
Instrumental. We used electric and nylon guitars, glockenspiel, electric bass, and a drum set [played by 2 guitarists, so don't judge]. Criticism [aside from the drums] welcome. [more inside]
womankind
An ode to women featuring guitars, piano, melodica, and lap steel. [more inside]
it shows
This is an angry, broody, dark, but pretty song. I'm proud of it, I think it's one of my best! Includes a pretty sweet xaphoon (!) solo by yours truly, plus background vocals by my wife. [more inside]
her name is hope
I wrote this after attending a concert late last year. Just finished (?) the recording. It's kind of a tribute to the musician I saw -- maybe you can guess who it is? Either way, it's a track that features guitars, pianos, fretless bass, vibes, drums, vocals and a lap steel part in the chorus that I'm really satisfied with. [more inside]
oslo nights
This is a quiet, meditative, minimalist instrumental piano piece, with occasional visits by vibes, fretless bass and lap steel guitar. You might want to play it somewhat loudly to hear some of the softer notes. Do you think it's finished, or should I add something? [more inside]
do you ever
This track switches between three time signatures, and features an intro with a style of singing I guess one could call very vaguely eastern. It's a slow and gentle affair with softly distorted ebowed guitar, piano, and xylophone. It also includes a guitar solo in which a single note is played repeatedly. And lyrics that are pretty silly. [more inside]
come careening
Layers of soft guitar distortion with pseudo-indian instruments thrown in, under a falsetto vocal over a deeper background vocal going through a guitar amp. I'm kind of proud of the lyrics, which are about staying true. [more inside]
stopping by woods
Back in either middle school or high school, in music class, I wrote my very first melody with a classmate named Mathias Knutzen. The assignment was to take a text from one of our books and create a song with it. We chose Robert Frost's poem and came up with this pseudo-jazzy tune. I always liked it, so I kept the "digital chord sheet" around and played it from time to time. More than 15 years later, here now is a brand new recorded version -- complete with brushed drums and falsetto background vocals. [more inside]
i will (radiohead cover)
Spur-of-the-moment lo-fi live cover of the Radiohead song off Hail to the Thief, to which I added a couple of equally rough overdubs and some reverb. The guitar is out of tune and poorly played, but the vocal melody tweaks are kind of fun. [more inside]
Spanish Moss
The proverbial seeds of this song were planted when I visited Savannah, Georgia at the beginning of the month and found myself captivated by the ubiquitous plant life named in the title.
Later, when I was working on lyrics and couldn't think of a second verse, my bandmate Mel reminded me of a dream my friend Kathy had in which I killed a guy and hid him behind a couch. The end result may be disproportionately creepy, but I rather like it. [more inside]
theme from "gone"
the microphone hears it
modular, snap-tite interlock pop. A song about recording alone.
undulate underling
A short, lyrically strange new song partly based on a dream. [more inside]
casanova ruins
I was walking around in the garment district at night on valentine's day years ago, and spotted a beautiful woman walking alone across the street. Despite being glamorously dressed up, she looked like she had lost all faith in men. She was carrying a heart-shaped balloon and huge flowers. This song is sort of about that. [more inside]
One Kiss from You
A maudlin love song from an old man to a young woman. Written in 2001. Part of my Old Songs project. [more inside]
Let the Band Play On
Part of my Old Songs project. A moody tune from 1999 about the terminus of a relationship. [more inside]
The Band Will Play a Melody
Part of my Old Songs project of making lo-fi recordings of songs I wrote many years, and, sometimes, decades ago. I have come to the inexorable conclusion that in the years between 1996 and 2000, I was either quite depressed, or unexpectedly skilled at feigning it in song [more inside]
Thorns on the Heartstrings
Glitchy dark beats, with distorted synth and a little hardcore mixed in. [more inside]
on and on and on
An atheist's song about the nature of politics and religion in the U.S.
hospital walls
Guitar-based melancholy song with vocals. I've had this around for several years, and keep thinking I'll continue to dabble with the outro. I think it's time to just let it out. I wrote this after the breakup of a 7 year relationship. I like the lyrics, and the little solo, and many other things about it. The long fade-out ending is over-indulgent and a bit off-key, but imperfect as the song may be, it has heart.
Five Fathoms Down
Melodic, slightly exotic, wistful surf music from Hell. [more inside]
gone
I think this is one of the catchier songs I've come up with in a while, though I never seem to be a good judge of that. At any rate, it's a short and simple track about intense love gone missing... or something like that. [more inside]
in memories
A collaboration with non-mefite Riadsala, who sometimes records bass for me. This is a pretty strange track, with a lot of effects going on, with a weirdish tempo change into the chorus which is backed by something in the vein of guitar shredding. [more inside]
the end
A "drifty" and atmospheric song about life and death and love, complete with harp. [more inside]
hungry heart
This is a lazy pseudo-live cover of the Bruce Springsteen song, recorded on a whim a couple of years ago.
snake
A quirky but perhaps oddly serious song inspired by that old Snake video game, written and recorded for the mefi music challenge.
log
This is an old song, not written for the mefi music challenge water theme, but the lyrics kind of fit, so I decided to upload it. I actually wrote this waltz about having a cold, but it sounds very "oceanic."
Crystals
It was 1999, I'd just graduated from trackers to fruityloops, and I was listening to a LOT of Warp and Boards Of Canada, and I made this. It's still my favourite, despite being the first tune I ever completed. Tsk.
two can go low
Most of my songs are sparse. This one is not! It's got "a lot of sound," and some bite. Does it kick buttocks? You decide.
Thousand Yard Stare
Recorded at Sound Mind Recordings in San Diego. I'm not sure about the full band thing; I think when I redo it for my album it'll be all acoustic.
crazy
A cover of the first verse and chorus of the Gnarls Barkley song, primitively recorded live a while back when I had a cold. My wife was really into the song and I recorded this for her as a goof, but it came out kinda good.
you've been awake
Lyrically naughty, musically atmospheric. Features guitars, vocals, brushed drums, African thumb harp, clothes hangers, and a shy half of a fake symphony orchestra.
the vase
My wife accidentally broke a vase. This song resulted. It was recorded in a couple of days inbetween other projects. I used no clicktrack, metronome or drum beat, so the timing is nice and loose (in a good way, I hope). It's short, so listen twice!
wedding song
Piano-based song written for my wife, for our recent wedding. As usual with my songs, it's slow and sparse. A lot of vocal layering going on, and some electric guitar to round things out in the chorus. Enjoy!
unbroken
This downtempo "weirdo-falsetto" number is a track by Clearspeaks featuring edlundart. The music was written and produced by Clearspeaks while I wrote the lyrics and vocal melody. I also performed the vocal and created the vocal snippets used in the background, similar to what I did on "elevate."
elevate
A calm and smooth falsetto song with lyrics lifted from an emergency first aid poster (with some additions turning it into a love song). Features guitar, bass, piano, and electronica-style rhythmic vocal snippets.
all this blue
Trip hop or something. At its core it is still a singer/songwriter sort of deal, but this features -- in addition to regular vocals -- opera samples, moaning girls, reversed strings, synth bass, subtle sustained guitar feedback, scratching, acoustic slide guitar, tambourine, crumbly noises, and whatever else. Includes the F-word right at the start, if that concerns anyone.
Well of Tears
A little muted trumpet, a little harp, a little harmonies and a lot of existential angst
maroon for red
A song from a couple of years back which is still a favorite of mine. This one has heavier drums and more electric guitars than most of my tracks, but it's still a love song.
sleep fiction
A pretty catchy melody, I think -- starts slow like most of my songs, but then picks up and becomes more of a rock track. Sample lyric: "Sleeping with you is still fiction, so missing it must be a contradiction." Features vocals, guitars, piano, drums, strings.
say goodnight
The city outside your bedroom window doesn't care if you're lonely. I guess this song is about the feeling of hopelessness. Slightly more uptempo than my previously posted songs, this one features slide guitar, non-slide guitars, drums, piano, strings, and guest appearances by Riadsala (bass) and kerry and casio (background vocal).
the long lost light
A slow and sad song I wrote and recorded after a breakup/separation a few years ago. Features a falsetto chorus and acoustic guitar, including an e-bow undercurrent.
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