So thrilled to announce that my song "From the Ground Up" will be featured on the season 7 finale of the FOX TV show BONES. The episode airs this Monday (May 14) 8/7c on FOX.
"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:
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.
I had the privilege of speaking with the lovely Kate Spencer at VH1.com recently - we chatted about vampires, new music, touring with the amazing Christina Perri and more! Click here to read the interview.
"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" 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:
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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.
