Monday, October 18, 2010

contemplate, geth.

contemplate, geth.

monday, finished up this little instrumental track.. been working on the I Like Your New Haircut stuff, now it's got a lot of violins all over the place, which we recorded this weekend. looking pretty promising, the whole album is gonna be pretty neat. and it'll be good to finally finish the thing, it's been in the works for almost 2 years, i think.. whoa.

but even saying all that, it still has a bit farther to go..

Friday, October 15, 2010

Upset on Mondays

things are getting closer to desperate here, no luck on the job front.. i think i'm gonna go over to Safeway down the street and apply for a job, maybe also TMobile and Fred Meyer.. but i'm not terribly hopeful. just closer to desperate.

on the other hand, the weather has been nice here in portland, oddly.. sunny afternoons, cool crisp air. i like it, and it makes it much more enjoyable to wander door to door looking for jobs.

this song is another in the attempt to write "happier" songs. catchy little major key bits - they start off happy enough, but it's hard to write lyrics. super-hard. these days i don't look a gift-muse in the mouth, as it were.

blah.blah.blah.

Upset on Mondays

Janie's always upset on mondays
and it pinches like you wouldn't believe
i wanna give her everything that she wants
i wanna give her everything that she needs
always bleeding from her head over something
it was nothing i could really take part in
a vast and ancient garden
don't look back when she tells you to leave
her love is something i'll learn to stomach
her attention is like a disease
a pretty bird with a terrible temper
making eyes from the heart of a tree
janie's always angry on mondays
it pinches like you wouldn't believe
i wanna give her everything that she wants
i won't look back when she tells me to leave
you don't own me anymore
i got something to settle the score
i won't be back for more

Thursday, October 14, 2010

vast tract of nothing

thursday morning, just finished up this little song with emily's help - she came home between classes today with a lotta pep (she did well on her test!) so we recorded some keyboards and drank smoothies. pretty great. managed to finish this one, with a few more in the works.

the song's a little odd, i guess. i wanted to write more happy songs, and so i came up with some major key guitar stuff, trying out different things. it started out cheerful enough, but once i started writing lyrics it got all weird and sorta depressing.

but still in a major key. i had planned to start off in E major and then tag on the outro in A major, with a little bridge to transition between them ("i didn't come to point fingers.. blabh blah").. and that worked out alright, but i added this guitar near the end that leans on a G#.. with a few B's every now and then.. so that pushes it back into a kind of Emajor thing. oh well, maybe too technical and silly anyhow..

vast tract of nothing

you don't know what you've been missing
we got soul with no son
we're the flood and the fire
we don't get tired
we got dreams that the human race is gonna expire
you can turn into stone
you can chop through bone
but is it really everything that you want?
it seems a vast tract of nothing
you got expressions that you use but refuse to believe
you got weapons in the shape of your teeth
but i don't come to point fingers
i can't care enough to pretend
i don't wanna be your friend anymore


ha! reading the lyrics like that, it is pretty far away from a happy song. hmm..

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

i got no reason

whew - it's been a long time since anything got posted here, huh? it's been kinda odd since being back in Portland, and I'm not sure I've got much to show for it.. we still have various band practices 2-3 times a week, and stay sorta busy, but it's odd.

Emily is back in school, as of a week and a half ago.. which is good, but we decided I wouldn't go to school, and instead I'd work a lot and make money. (ha!).. but it's tough to find work 'round here, that's for sure. I applied at a 24hr Subway down the street, and they haven't called me back. sigh. i can't even get crappy jobs i don't want. oh well.

here's a song. it took about an hour, i figure.. started playing the chords (with the odd phrasing), and found something to latch onto.. the words spilled out, piece of cake. it would've been easy to dress it up, re-recording it and making it fancy, but i kinda like the lo-fi loneliness of it.

i got no reason


i got no reason to get excited, i've decided
i guess you'd rather be alone
let me feel something while i am able
i'll just sell all my stuff and get back on the road
but this thing between us, it's a demon
i can't fight it
why won't you pick up the phone?