Chicken Game
Mar 10, 2024
Carseat
Mostly Melody
Don’t sip our trauma off my face // Float in our gaseous phase
My neutral niche has popped its frame
Now I’m stuck on what to say
Breathe // The psychic fumes signal fate
Time winks on my wrist
Don’t say we have to wait // Chicken game
Your buffer took a punch // But I’ll hush ‘til you blink it
Don’t say we have to wait // For your partum spiral state
Your buffer took a punch // But I’ll shelter opaque
Feel the future in my face // Or I’ll shove it to your heart
I can feel the pressure marinate // As I watch my presence start to fray
I can feel the pressure marinate // But I’d hate to smear the truth in haste
Don’t say we have to wait // Chicken game
Your buffer took a punch // But I’ll hush ‘til you blink it
Don’t say we have to wait // For your partum spiral state
Your buffer took a punch // But I’ll shelter opaque
Not gonna lie, this prompt was difficult for me because I love me some weird lo fi fx, as most of you probably know lol. So I decided to treat the EQ-Comp constraint to say, “Hey Darcy, this is just a demo.” So everything is DI into virtual amps (for pregain and distortion but nooothing else) and then EQ and Comp from there. The drums are the only exception — they’re Addictive Drums with no reverb/delay.
The chord constraint was also difficult for me because I usually use chords to pivot from section to section and from emotion to emotion. I ended up choosing a weird one: i #IV … I needed to have a weird edge to its tonality, and that was the best one I could find that could sound smooth at the moments I needed it to.
As for the melody stipulation, most of the melody sat in the bass part (surprise surprise). It was actually really fun to write with bass first and guitar second – doesn’t happen very often for me. So thanks Julia – that was a cool assignment.
Looking for feedback on
How was the two-chords thing? Did it get boring? If so, where do you see a change? This is my first time writing a song with only two chords, so it's definitely an experiment.
Discussion
Ryan March 29, 2024 11:15am
This is rad as hell. Great bass tone, great guitar additions throughout. This has so much character. I agree with Alex that it’s just the drums that could bring some more variety. Like maybe in the chorus it leaves the kit sound entirely and goes super electronic then returns to the kit sound in the post and verses. Cool frickin track.
alechutson March 24, 2024 2:36pm
Oooooh love the crunch in the guitar and the punchy bass line. Really nice guitar arrangement in general, very tasteful. I think having a bit more variation in the drums would help keep the piece engaging through the end – as is, for me it’s fantastic up until about 2:30 and then the last portion could use some additional variation. Great job working within parameters!
nick March 23, 2024 9:28am
cool vibe right off the bat. Love a dirty dry bass led track. At first, I was like ok there are a thousand chords in this song, but reframing it as the bass as melody, I now see that it’s really just dancing around in between these two chords the whole time. There’s that sort of chorus/post chorus that just changes the time but keeps the chords in their original order which I think absolutely follows the rules. Super playful and a little grimy. Cool track. I definitely don’t think it gets boring.