"intermission" & how it was made.

"intermission is the 20th song in the yearbook series, track 2 of the "april" ep. in my early days of writing music, I discovered delay effects for guitar for the first time and it changed my life forever. (totally dramatic, but also very true..) as a guitar player, I became obsessed. I didn't use delay in any fancy ways, just simple echo effects and that's all it took to fall madly in love with my electric guitar. i would set up my amp downstairs in my parents basement and play for hours. I loved it. but in recent years, my electric guitar has taken a bit of a backseat (and my delay pedal along with it!) in favor of my taste for more acoustic instrumentation.

for "intermission" I thought it would be a ton of fun to revisit my old habits of setting up my electric guitar and amp and just mess around (something I've not done in many, many years) - I had so much fun. I dusted off my trust line6 DL4 delay pedal and went to town.

one of my favorite features on that particular pedal is the ability to record short loops... click one button and it immediately begins recording whatever you're playing, click another button and it begins replying it, looping over and over. rinse and repeat and you can create a multi-layered cake of guitar sounds.

after an hour or two of messing around, I created the guitar loop that is foundation of "intermission." i thought it would be really fun to write the song in the same way the loops were originally compiled - which is how the song begins. one guitar, followed by another with harmonies, followed by another with more and so on and so on. I liked the idea of preserving the origins of this song in the actual final arraignment.

at first, the general outline of the song came together very easily and fast on this one - but once I got to writing vocal melodies and lyrics, that's when the brakes were slammed to a screeching halt. (never a fun time) ... halfway into writing the vocal melodies for this song, I realized that it reminded me of another song I heard a while back. as a musician, this is something that one encounters often - there are only so many notes in existence, and unfortunately sometimes you follow an idea into someone else's song and have to forfeit the song entirely. it's happened countless times before and is always a bummer - spending hours and sometimes days and weeks on a song and and realizing that it's someone else. ugh. I've always been very strict about it and throw things out the window right when an idea feels no longer my own. for "intermission" the melody kept leaning into a familiar melody and it took many days to flip it inside to and make it mine. eventually I was able to make it happen and in retrospect, I'm very happy to have invested those extra days of work to bend it into something that feels new to me.

musically, this was a fun song to put together... enjoyed programming the very simple, dry drums... guitar layers, synth patches, etc. a favorite sound for me is the little toy piano bit that starts around 1:30 - that's one of my favorite little keyboards in the word - the casio sk-1. love that thing.

lyrically, this song is about transition. it's about the challenges of being stuck between point a and point b. or as the song states, "somewhere between side a and side b" - (which by the way is a mini reference to the iphone game "superbrothers: sword & sworcery" - if you've played it before you know what "side a" and "side b" is no doubt.)

when I wrote this, most things in my life felt very caught in some middle space... everything felt a bit up in the air in one way or another.  for that very reason, i decided to make it the middle song of this ep (which also explains the title "intermission") so writing this song, writing down these thoughts, to get it off my chest, made me feel better - to get these frustrating thoughts outside of my head.

the song "in the meantime" is next up, which is another train of thought about being in some sort of middle place... it was written as a sort of answer for the thoughts written down in this song. a prayer of sorts.

thanks for reading!

love, ryan

listen: [soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/46796537" params="auto_play=false&show_artwork=true&color=000000" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

lyrics:

INTERMISSION

i’m so tired but i can’t sleep. my mind is full but i can’t speak. among the dust of the hard-to-reach, i’m stuck right here, somewhere between side a and side b.

i could call it compromise or just an intermission. some kind of consolation prize for the race i never finished.

i want to turn these tired gears. i want to feel the follow-through, some kind of equilibrium… something to set my watch to.

i’m here, somewhere between victory and a white flag. caught in this purgatory dream, i’m stuck.

but i want to set the record straight, i want to retrace my every step. if i could just rewind all the tapes then maybe i’d find my loose thread.

call it a compromise or just an intermission. some kind of consolation prize, so close, but never finished.

i want to turn these tired gears. i want to feel the follow-through, some kind of equilibrium… something to set my watch to.

"Tethered" & how it was made.

"tethered" is the 19th song in the yearbook series, track 1 of the "april" ep. towards the end of each song's recording process, I spend about a day playing around with new sounds and ideas to put the finishing touches on the song. the sprinkles on the top of the sundae! when I was wrapping up "birthright," I was playing around with additional sounds and haphazardly laid my hands on the keyboard and played a few random notes. i liked how they sounded and immediately grabbed my iPhone to record the mini idea. that idea became "tethered."

if you've heard my music before, you're probably well aware that I have a soft spot for strings. I incorporate strings into as much of my music as possible. I'm a sucker for them. there's a style of playing called "pizzicato," which is where the strings are plucked on the violin (or viola, cello) rather than played with a bow. I always love how this sounds. it has a sort of romantic sound to me, playful, but earnest at the same time. so I try to toss in pizzicato strings throughout songs when it works. for tethered, I thought this would be the perfect sound for the foundation of the entire song.

being a completely novice (translate: terrible) violin player myself, I decided to take on the challenge of recording these pizzicato strings myself. so that's what you're hearing. it took a long while to play it right, but I am happy with the end result.

after the pizzicato foundation was laid, I played around with piano melodies. it came together quick and I really liked the strange rhythms that fit together in this song. after that, i tackled making the choruses "bigger" (a term that is used almost always in the songwriting process ha) - which lead me to my electric guitar. always fun to dust it off and see if I remember how to play the thing. ;) I enjoyed the thicker electric guitar swells in this. was fun to play. my best mate, dan added a bit of bass, keys and some sparkly bits in the end. i love how it all came together. this is a very, very simple song and I'm pleased that it remains so. it's always tempting to complicate songs, so approaching this song with a simple mindset let it breathe and I'm very pleased with he that works for this.

lyrics... this is a pretty direct, simple and personal love song. a couple years ago, my wife and I were indeed married by the ocean - on the shores of Oahu, Hawaii. and each verse, refers to different aspects of my wife's and my personalities. some examples:

"I'll be warmth when you are shivering cold" - my wife is always cold. always. bundled in blankets as often as possible.

"you be patience when I've had enough of this waiting game" - is a direct reference to me being an impatient person. always in a hurry. is what my family tells me I am. it's true.

the idea for these lyrics are centered around one theme: the game, cats cradle. if you are unfamiliar with the game, read about it here.

it's such a beautiful idea, a game of taking turns making a simple strand of string turn into something more. in my head, that sounded a lot like relationships - a series of taking turns and making something together that is better than what we could have created alone. I also loved the idea that, in this game, we make mistakes to we start over. there is no loser, no winner. just a small team, working together to make something beautiful for the sake of making something beautiful. its fairly obvious, but this concept is what inspired the title "tethered." and the first set up of this image in the song is the lyric:

"we tied string around our fingers to remember our ideals."

when i was scavenging the Internet for visuals of the game for inspiration, I stumbled upon these remarkably beautiful pieces of art by brian mallman:

"String Games (Cat's Cradle" by Brian Mallman

so as I wrote this song, those images were certainly imprinted onto my mind.

in february, 2012, the abc show, "grey's anatomy" used this song to close out an episode. privileged to say the least!

thank you for reading! love, ryan

listen:

lyrics:

TETHERED

we were married by the ocean. we were tethered by the sea. we tied string around our fingers to remember our ideals.

i’ll be brave when you are frightened. you’ll be strong when i am weak in the knees. i’ll be calm when you have had enough of these rushing waves. you’ll be the oxygen i need.

we’ll take turns to untangle the knots, though our hands may be tied, it’s all a part of the plot. cat’s cradle etiquette, we oblige, as we learn to enlace for the rest of our lives.

you’ll be balance when i waver. i’ll be warmth when you are shivering cold. you’ll be patience when i’ve had enough of this waiting game. i’ll be the anchor cast below.

we’ll take turns to untangle the knots, though our hands may be tied, it’s all a part of the plot. cat’s cradle etiquette, we oblige, as we learn to enlace for the rest of our lives.

"Birthright" & how it was made.

"birthright" is the 18th song in the yearbook series, track 3 of the "march" ep. early on in the making of yearbook, I asked my friend jon foreman of switchfoot if he'd be up for being a guest on a song at some point throughout the year. being the rad dude that he is, he said he would be up for it. at that time, I had no song in particular in mind, so jon and I just kept in touch for the first several months about it. when the chords and melody for birthright came into view, I knew it felt like the right song to invite jon to be a part of. he and the switchfoot gang were in the studio hard at work making their "vice verses" album, so I had doubts that the timing of my invitation would even be doable... but to my surprise, jon was able to make time to record this and did such a beautiful job.

it wasn't until the lyrical theme of birthright came together that i felt like this song was the perfect fit for jon and I to sing together on. I knew right away that in order to do a "duet" of sorts, the lyric subject matter had to feel right.

i wanted to tell small fables about family - little portraits of brothers and sisters throughout the verses, born into different circumstances. the first line that directed this theme was:

"she was raised by wolves, in the warmth of their fur."

that line definitely paved the path for each of the following verses to play with hard and soft images in just about every line. I enjoyed playing with those contrasts in this song.

to me personally, each "character" in these mini fables represent someone I know. without directly saying who, I can say that each of these mini fables do tell a truth. (hence the end lyric, "our fables tell our truths")

for the general fable imagery, I was inspired by the chronicles of narnia.

the resolve of each of these small stories is in the chorus lyric. it was inspired by a thought that I had a while back - although extremely simple and has probably been said an infinite amount of times before, I believe that pain finds us anywhere. to me that means that all pain is valid, no matter what situation it finds us in - rich, poor, healthy, unhealthy, etc. it doesn't matter, pain finds us anywhere and should need no qualifiers to be considered valid. and out of this pain, we can become stronger and more whole.

"Right or wrong, Tension makes us stronger By making us weak When we needed to be.

Privilege and pain When compared look the same. Comprehension begins When we pull back the lens."

although each verse tells a different fable about different brothers and sisters, I also intended this song to be read as one story about 1 brother and 1 sister, telling their stories from different perspectives. I liked the idea of having multiple dimensions to how this story can be read. and I liked the idea of two very different experiences and how on the surface one looks better than the other, but in reality - the pressures of either life presents similar challenges and hurts.

I really had fun writing in this fairy-tale, fable-like fashion.

musically, this song was also a ton of fun to piece together. Dan Perdue did a beautiful job recording piano (on my fav upright piano ever!), some key patches and bass. Jason Toth did a fantastic job on drums. and of course, Jon Foreman did a truly beautiful job as well. truly blessed to have my friends to be a part of these songs that mean so much to me!

for the guitar, if my memory serves me correctly, I recorded my baby Taylor acoustic guitar on this. could be my martin, but i am pretty sure it's my baby taylor. really pleased with the overall acoustic sound here... mr. John Goodmanson's mix work always makes things sound good and right. (he has magic!)

I am really pleased with how this song turned out from recording, to concept, to getting make music with friends that I love.

thanks for reading, gang!

love, ryan

listen:

lyrics:

BIRTHRIGHT

she was raised by wolves, in the warmth of their fur. surrounded by fangs, she knew that she was secure.

language barriers made no difference at all. when you’re truly cared for, there’s no purpose for walls.

his fences stood tall as the shoulders of old. but he dreamt that one day maybe he’d break the mold.

but time shyly stands still when you watch it unfold. from these ivory towers freedom is only a ghost.

privilege and pain when compared look the same. comprehension begins when we pull back the lens.

right or wrong, tension makes us stronger by making us weak when we needed to be.

they made her their queen on the day she was born. they placed on her a crown she wasn’t ready for.

but all impossible odds foreshadow our means, like paving a road to kingdoms we’ve never seen.

he woke up one day, written out of the will. they swore he'd be okay, with lesser shoes to fill.

“what doesn't kill us makes us stronger,” they say. our only birthright in this life is the breath that we take.

privilege and pain when compared look the same. comprehension begins when we pull back the lens.

right or wrong, tension makes us stronger by making us weak when we needed to be.

our fables tell our truths.

"Outlines" & how it was made.

"outlines" is the 17th song in the yearbook series... track #2 on the "march" ep. when i write songs and prep them for recording, it is most common for me to have a fairly clear picture in mind of the overall shape of the song - the general instrumentation, where each of the sections should land (arrangement), etc. however, with "outlines," I approached the whole process without any clue of what the final picture might look like.

much like the song "wires," "outlines" opens with a melody created within my iPhone, and that's exactly where this song began in the writing process as well. I let that melody loop over and over and just began adding layer after layer of ideas... I started with electric guitar, and discovered a bunch of chords and ideas I liked, which was very helpful in finding the shape of the song.

a day or so adding and subtracting layers, I finally unearthed the overall "outline" (get it?) and heart of the song, which of course led to even more new layers and ideas. then my pal Dan and I explored some ideas on our keyboards and found some nice textures that filled in the cracks. Dan, added bass and did a superb job adding thickness to the song.

it was so much fun hunting for a mix of electronic sounds that played well with more organic "band" ish sounds (ie. drums, pianos, bells, etc) - for a song very much about origins (more on that later) - i liked the idea of natural sounds underneath modern and more electric sounds.

once all of the pieces were laid in place, I invited my good pal, jason toth to play drums. (jason appears all over my "storyboards" album and is a fantastic musician. fact.) his performance definitely gives this song its pulse.. the last minute or two of snare runs is pretty impressively fast - he didn't even pass out while doing takes. a total pro. we had a lot of fun recording him for this, and watching him sweat. ha.

the lyrics came next, as they often do... but in this song's case, I had no vocal melodies in mind just yet. usually, in the lyric-writing process, I will play around with vocal melodies while the song's shape is coming into view. but "outlines" was nearly finished musically before I payed around with any vocal ideas and lyrics.

the lyrics, and the overall concept came together fairly quickly on this one.

I wanted to write a song from Adam's perspective (of the Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden story) - this theme might be most evident in the lyric:

"garden of eden, lower your branches for another year." 

so I imagined what Adam's thoughts might have been in the aftermath of eating the apple. pleading, reasoning, hoping for and finding something more. the title "outlines" refers to this origin story, as the outline of who we are today. (hence the more organic sounds, mixed with more modern, electric sounds.)

thanks for reading!

much love, ryan

listen:

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/45645417" params="auto_play=false&show_artwork=true&color=000000" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

lyrics:

OUTLINES

hidden in plain sight, the world is an outline of shapes i used to know.

like pulling ribbon, all of a sudden the curtains draw back slow.

though i’ve been distracted, i am caught up in static no more.

garden of eden, lower your branches for another year.

i’m dust, unsettled until they reappear.

though my hands are prone to trial and error, i’m crossing my fingers for something to hold.

i can’t help but hope for brighter, here in the shadows of letting go.

God, may these good intentions be the outline of so much more.

when i breathe, from now on, i’ll mean it more than ever i did before.

"Pacific" & how it was made.

"pacific" is the 16th "yearbook" song, track 1 of the "march" ep.

i wrote this piece of music about a month or two before yearbook began... around that time, i saw a film called "the secret of kells" - an irish animated film, which was nominated for an oscar in 2010 for "best animation." i absolutely loved it. it's beautiful, haunting and inspiring. so, immediately after seeing it, i scoured the internet to find anything i could about who made this film and when and where can i see more. i found that it was directed by a gentleman by the name of tomm moore, who created "cartoon saloon" in ireland, a fantastic animation studio. i stumbled upon a "conceptual" trailer for tomm's next film, "song of the sea" and i was awe-struck. it was some of the most beautiful animation i have ever seen...

being someone filled with hopes of scoring films one day, i thought it might be a lot of fun to try my hand at writing music for this conceptual trailer. it already had lovely music in the trailer online (as heard in the trailer above), so there was no intention of "replacing" anything - it was just such a beautiful trailer that i felt inspired to write something to it, and i thought why not try my hand at "scoring" it for my own amusement.

(note: to hear "pacific" paired with the trailer, hit the mute button on the concept trailer, press play on both videos above)

so i sat down at my piano, with the trailer running on loop through my ipad. a day or so later, "pacific" was the result. i was really pleased with how it turned out, so (again, totally something i've never done) i wrote to tomm moore via twitter and asked if i could send him this little piece of music i wrote, inspired by "song of the sea." to my surprise, he replied and welcomed me sending it over. he responded incredibly kindly and it just about made me year to hear it.

"song of the sea" has yet to be released, and i believe (having had the pleasure of keeping in touch with mr. moore over the last couple years) it appears to still be in the production phase. i cannot be more excited to see this film though.. seriously, how gorgeous is that trailer?! although my music has nothing officially to do with it, i have watched this concept trailer probably a thousand times and i just think it's going to be a masterpiece.

so when i wrote this (right before "yearbook" began) i knew that i wanted to include this piece of music on one of the yearbok eps... but i held onto it until the right month came along.

"march" felt perfect for "pacific" for a few reasons:

• something about the spring coming into view, makes me dream of the ocean. 
• my family and i have had the incredible privilege of visiting hawaii many, many times and it always seems to be around this time. so i've enjoyed the pacific ocean in march many times throughout my life.
• i got married in hawaii and the wedding was in march! so "pacific" was a perfect fit for the "march" ep.

originally this song was the exact length of the concept trailer - about a minute long. but when putting it together for the ep, i wanted to extend it. which created a unique problem -

most songs on yearbook, i recorded my piano a certain way that i like. i leave the mics set up and when i record my piano, i have the assurance of knowing it will sound like it did before, exactly as i like it. for "pacific" however, i recorded it a bit differently... i recorded the main piano with a small recorder, but i couldn't remember where the recorded was sitting when i originally recorded this piece of music. so in order to keep the performance of the original recording (which i very much intended to do) i had to figure out a way to add the new extension without it sounding like i started recording a totally different piano sound. so after several tests and trial and errors to figure out how i got the piano sound i originally recorded - i finally found a match, and continued on with the extended arrangement.

because the pianos were recorded with a small hand-held recorder, there were all sorts of background noises (a few coughs in the other room and tv chatter) - again, i had to decide whether or not to keep my original performance, or start over... but being the stubborn person that i am, i went with keeping the original at any cost!

i sent the piano track to my pal, jason ward at chicago mastering (the very same amazing team who mastered every yearbook ep! if you're ever looking for mastering work, use them! amazing.) and asked if he had any magic abilities to clean up the background noises and hums and coughs and whatever... and he did an insanely good job. sent it back and it sounded perfect. so my stubbornness paid off.

a long, long while ago my brother and sister-in-law bought me a violin as a gift. i adore it and play it often, however it is by far the most challenging musical instrument i have ever touched. and it sounds that way too when i practice. on this song (and many more throughout yearbook actually) i wanted to give it a shot and record some violin parts the best i can. usually i will write the arrangement and have skilled string players play it. but for this song and most others that i actually played the strings on, i just do lots of takes of misc. i'm pretty pleased with how it turned out - it has character. wonky character maybe, but character nonetheless.

added a bunch of other subtle layers throughout and really had fun putting this one together. it's the second instrumental song in the yearbook series, so it was nice to give my voice a break and dive into a film-scoring type of mindset here.

thanks for reading!

much love, ryan