Entry 6: The Plot Thickens
If you're following along, we left our protagonists in a pretty scary situation! After gaining consciousness along with our hero, and branching out emotionally, the most eclectic piece tells of an attempted capture with dissonant and threatening electronica. Where does that leave our story?
7. Keep Up The Pace
"Under cover of the clouds, our moment it is now..."
This track, the conclusion of 'side one' of our album, finds the heroes literally running from their oppressors. In a sonic onslaught laden with urgent whispers, tom-heavy drumming, climbing bass and jarring acoustic licks we want the listener to run to freedom with the story's protagonists.
The song's conception was simple: we needed something to contrast the harshness of the previous couple tracks and liked the idea of a song about running itself. An organic 'thriller' of an acoustic number seemed to fit the bill pretty well.
During composition I toyed around with the idea of stealing the melody from the verses of 'Independence Day' and singing different lyrics in a different style. While I eventually opted to not imitate it exactly, a trained ear will hear similarities; especially since it gave me the opportunity to throw in a direct reference at the end of the piece in which I DO repeat exactly the haunting motif of 'Independence Day,' as the protagonist assures his lover that "We'll never be human beings, unless we reach out and take it ourselves." With this assertion, the song strikes its last chord and rings out for several seconds, with the fate and freedom of the heroes hanging in the balance. At the very least, they know that getting a semblance of truth, consciousness and love back into society will take effort and risk on the part of the individual.
8. Small Stones
The kickoff track of the second half of the album, like that of the first, is something you can move to. However, this time it comes in the form of moody and thumpy, power-chord driven acoustic rock song. This song, continuing the angle of something-that-would-be-written-in-the-secret-diary-of-a-dystopian-freedom-fighter is a stream-of-consciousness glance into the current mindset of the protagonist.
He is confused, but resolute, and wants to appreciate the smaller things in life. He truly believes in the adage that love conquers all, but not necessarily in the traditional sense. He believes that if love exists at all, then the ideals he strives for cannot die and he cannot be stopped, or at least the movement he is a part of cannot be.
The chorus of the song arrives and teeters between optimism and hopelessness. With the first, titular line he proclaims that "We are the small stones that start the avalanche," conveying his hope and belief that it only takes a few individuals to start a major movement that can right a wrong. However, in the second line, he admits that "We are the small stones in a widow's wedding band," and may only be the bright spots in a movement fighting for something that is hopeless and forever lost. The chorus continues in this way, putting the mood of the protagonist in a very gray area.
The coda of this track was an opportunity to switch things up. The song changes abruptly-yet-fluidly from a kick-driven acoustic rocker into a slow ballad teetering on the edge of rhythmic chaos. Cymbals are heard for (virtually) the first time as the drumming switches from thumping to flying and steady eighths become loose triplets and polyrythms. A mournful-but-determined choir enters and fills out the sonic picture as the protagonist yearns once more to his lover (in a way that makes the love interest = freedom motif a little more clear and meaningful). With a few more bars of choir and drums that I like to describe as "falling down the stairs with a drum set but just happening to hit all the right steps with the snare and ride cymbal" the song ends with a cool chord that you'll just have to check out when the album comes out!
9. We Are The Dead
Pieces of this song have been floating around my head for a couple of years now and I think it shows. With lyrics utilizing mostly internal rhyme and a conversational melody, the acoustic ballad is an opportunity to analyze feelings of tragedy and hopelessness in the modern world. With both references to 9/11 and reacting to a major tragedy that can be barely understood at a young age as well as allusions to dystopian literature, this song is somewhat of a high-point on our album that gives it a sense of realism and makes it a little personal.
The song goes on quite simply for three minutes with just three instruments: acoustic guitar, voice, and violin. At the conclusion of a somber violin solo, the piece transforms with a slow fill into a quasi classic rock number to bring it home. Amidst the solid drumming and rhythmic chords the protagonist begins a conversation-like soliloquy. He knows exactly what must be done and lists it out in clear terms: individual lives are unimportant, every rebel is fighting for the future, not for themselves, death occurred with the first rebellious thought, any extra days are merely bonus time in which more groundwork can be laid for those to come to be free and happy.
From a compositional standpoint I was very glad that the concept used in the outro that I have just described allowed me to put a solid second half on what I knew was a solid first half of a song I was having prolonged troubles with finishing. The five-and-a-half minute anthem of confusion, then hope, then selflessness stands as a solid component of this album!
Thank you for sticking with us and hopefully getting excited about our work! We'll be periodically releasing songs starting pretty soon, so be on the lookout for that! And also be only the lookout for Bryan's next entry when he describes and analyzes the final songs on Friday!
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