I realized that I haven't really put much here in the way of updates on the album I'm working on. And while there have been all sorts of mini updates on progress on my Twitter account, they're of the superficial variety you would expect on Twitter, eg. "Back at Nimbus, working on 'Siamese Twins.' Today is MIDI day..."
So, here's a few updates.
The title,
Tales From the Black Heart, came to me last year at BCIT. The project/artist alias is Maqlu, which is an old, old handle of mine, probably going back to the mid nineties.
Last year when I first started compiling material in a serious way I thought this would mostly be noise and instrumental work, but then I started writing lyrics which were pulling in a different direction, so while I still have a bunch of those pieces in various stages of completion on my drives, I think that will be set aside for now.
Anyway, the lyrics - I've got something like 25 songs kicking around plus various fragments. Most of which lives up to the album name, though it's not all about romantic relationships by any means.
It was getting to the point of being a pile of songs needing direction and editing, which brought up the issue of how to even approach it. Some of my better songs were ones I frankly didn't care much for [though usually for reasons having not much to do with the actual song] while others I was overly attached to would need a lot of work to say the least.
Enter Bob Ezrin. [How many artists get to say that?]
Well, saying it that way is a little misleading. At the end of September Bob came to my school for a couple of talks, one with the students only and one open one for the Fox's Mentorship series with Dunner. Bob talked about various things and I was scribbling notes like crazy, but I had a list of several burning questions related to my own work since this was after all the guy who helped form the vision of
the Wall as well as sequencing Nine Inch Nails'
the Fragile, which are two of my favorite albums.
I went first in the question and answer phase and asked Bob about how he approached albums like that. Bob spoke of drawing a blueprint for an album and then you know what you're building. The analogy was if you were building a house and had all the parts in the yard, it would be easier if you had a blueprint rather than trying to figure out all the stuff in the pile.
Think of the four corners of the house or the first and last songs of each side of vinyl and build from there.
It's been in my mind for a couple of weeks for what to do with
Tales From the Black Heart. Right now I have no blueprint, I have a pile of stuff to work with. So a little light bulb went off in my head, though it took a couple of weeks to coalesce.
Before I could draw the house, isn't the first thing an architect does a survey of the building site? So I listened to all my songs. I thought of what I've already written, themes and possible characters or metaphors that span the whole thing.
Somehow the ideas that came into my head had to do with forests and hiding spots and sanctuaries and all that - well I guess maybe because the new lyrics for "Trouble Thing" have to do with games and chasing and "darkened corners two can hide in." Playing games, some of which could be dangerous.
I started doodling on cartridge paper a skyline in the distance, then closer a couple of trees and the water separates this space from the city. I drew creatures hiding and thought of parallels to what's going on in my life. There was a rampaging gorilla in the city, a scheming iguana, a prowling wolf and an inscrutable, possibly angry rabbit. Sometimes they were about people I know, sometimes about me, and sometimes they were more symbolic.
But I started to realize that it needed to be more basic than the forest and the critters. That all felt too simplistic. It needed to be about the rage and suspicion not the gorilla, the calculation and "what's in it for me and how can I get it fast?" not the iguana, the drives of the wolf. The rabbit is still inscrutable, but it doesn't matter outside of a couple of ad-libbed references in "Disco Disgorge."
I started thinking of dreams, inner world things, desires. Things that aren't quite the way you expected in reality versus how you experienced them in sleeping dreams, not always in a bad way, just different twists. I scribbled some notes, made a list of all the songs, lyric chunks, etc. and started over with examining the songs.
Some of them I was able to dismiss out of hand. I came to a short list of five songs I have recorded that I definitely want to use: "Trouble Thing," "Purple and Red," "Writhe," "200 Cuts" and "Disco Disgorge." And I worked out that that is pretty much the order they need to be in, though there are some holes there.
"Trouble Thing" felt like a declaration of sorts, a strong start but not the immediate start. Something needs to set it up. Tentatively I've have called this first song "Fortress," but I really only have a couple of lines for it.
"Purple and Red" seemed to flow next. It's the most romantic thing I've written, which is taking some getting used to. I initially went with a remix-style structure, but now it seems it isn't serving the song. It has just two choruses and two verses plus some noise, but it feels like there's a hole in the middle where another verse needs to go and there are some other changes needed. I have a couple of weeks' break in December which I will use to fix it.
"Writhe" is next. I may or may not do some reworking on that too, but if so it will also wait for December.
The transition between the lust of "Writhe" and the disgust of "200 Cuts" was clearly a bad one. It needed something else to buffer it. And of course it means the story arc seems to go from the love/lust of the first few to much more negative feelings for "200 Cuts" and "Disco Disgorge" and so on. They're actually all about different people, it's not like I'm in love with him for "Purple and Red" and hate him by "200 Cuts" but I guess none of that matters to the listener as they draw their own conclusions.
Anyway, it seemed that there needed to be a pivot song there, something about suspicion yet clinging. Over a couple of days an idea started to form like a half-remembered dream or words just past the tip of my tongue. It was about two people who can't let go to each other in a mutual stranglehold, eventually solidifying into a notion of Siamese twins who wanted to destroy each other. I also thought of stories I read on a forum a while back of people who went nuts and refused to move from the couch [or in one case, a toilet] and over months their flesh grew into the fabric of the couch or around the toilet seat and the furniture had to be removed with the person, and then they had to be surgically cut free. I thought of scar tissue binding like mutual hatred tying them together. The song came together from there as "Siamese Twins" and I am working on the vocal comps right now. It'll be mixed [along with a slightly faster "Trouble Thing"] next week.
From "Siamese Twins" to "200 Cuts" now made more sense [and "Writhe" to "Siamese Twins" works as well]. I wrote about "200 Cuts" previously and the song is now done. It could be summed as being about about disgust or resignation at someone who flaunts their self-destruction yet never manages to either fix themselves or finish the job. It's glitchy, boomy, and harsh sounding, fairly stripped down.
Next we go into "Disco Disgorge" at the heart of the album. It has a fast and tight start, then sprawls out into noise and out of time beats. Also a pissed off piece, but with a mocking edge.
Then I started thinking of how to finish the album. I realize this is the age of shuffle mode and iPods, but I still like the idea of a song cycle, so how would I get back to "Fortress"? I had thought of making the last third about getting more into moving forward, getting desired results.
Also, I started to think of maybe doing 3 EPs instead of a single full album, which is maybe a wiser move in the new music industry as well as an interesting idea for the content of the album. [It's also a good idea for continued promo as opposed to a big promo push every couple of years.]
If I were to break it into 3 EPs, the obvious breaks are the two pivot points of the album. The first EP would be more about desire, from "Fortress" through "Writhe." Daydreams and wishes. The second EP is more negative for sure: "Siamese Twins," "200 Cuts," "Disco Disgorge," and a new track I'm working on called "The Trap I'm In Now" which starts to pivot back. Nightmares or those dreams which aren't quite nightmares but which still feel icky.
I did realize there seems to be a gap where it has to peak in unpleasantness. I have a very ugly set of lyrics called "How Could I" which will fill the gap, but I wish I could toss it aside.
Back to Bob. One of the other questions I had was about what to do if you have an artist [translation: are an artist] who has a great song that they don't want to work with. Before I could ask it, one of Bob's stories led to him talking about getting out of the way of the artist in creation. Or helping the artist get out of the way of themselves. So I think I will need to just get out of my own way and hopefully once I get working on the music for "How Could I" I will like it more, because this song could be a peaking point for that second EP.
The last on the second EP is an ambient, noisy, floaty piece called "The Trap I'm In Now," which is turning out and sort of about reflection or seeking.
The third EP would then be about implementation or creating dreams. It will start with a year-old set of lyrics about "lightning in the hand." Then there will be two pieces in response: "Force the Issue" about impatience and potential self-sabotage or rather trying to avoid such, and "Flow and Float" trying to be more Zen and letting the world unfold on its own time. It will close with a noise piece called "Dream Made Flesh," which is more open-ended, not really a tidy end, but mood-wise more relaxed. [Plus if I decide to release a bunch of noise stuff as a fourth EP while I work on the next album, I think it will tie in nicely.
I feel better about the project now that it has a direction instead of me running blindly from song to song without a plan.
