Home Planet
Jul 19, 2020
Ryan
Brain Dig
Ended up having three hours to do this. No mix, no drum composition, no editing. So sick. Had high hopes for this one, too. Ain’t that how it goes sometimes. Looking forward to revisiting it in the future. Great assignment, Aubrey!
I have a surreal memory of lying on my back when I was 8 or 9 years old, on a big sloping hill in my friend’s backyard, watching leaves fall from these huge oak trees. When I was young, I would trip myself out easily and constantly. My memory of that day is leaves falling impossibly slowly. We trudged the woods surrounding our neighborhood all day and it felt like we were pioneering miles of land on some strange planet—attempting to read moss for directions and discovering a creek that we were certain no one else had before discovered. In reality we were probably never further than a mile from someone’s house, but the neighborhood felt infinite. I think partly due to this memory, I still feel the strangeness of our planet every day.
Time, rubber, acetate.
The governing laws
of weight are weightless.
Yeah I believe we’re aliens—
Cause surely this is outer space.
I had aged a hundred days
before an oak leaf reached my face.
We the pioneers that reached the creek side—
cutting back the brush and reading maps of moss—
we were lost to the place.
Trekking up the hill to see the tree line—
Dizzy looking down and racing home the sun—
we belonged to the place.
Yeah I believe we’re aliens—
Cause surely this is outer space.
I had aged a hundred days
before an oak leaf reached my face.
Looking for feedback on
How's all them harmonic moves working for ya?
Discussion
Z July 27, 2020 8:47pm
I love this, I was really glad you took us into outerspace rather than through a New England landscape for example. I don’t know that I know of too many Krezbot-In-Space comps. The harmonic shifts are great, it’s like each time you’ve got your footing they shift again and your perspective keeps telescoping larger.
Great lyrics. Another gem, this deserves to be on an album despite being ‘recorded under duress,’ although if it didn’t make the cut I’d be **stoked** to see what did!
Ryan July 28, 2020 12:28pm
Thanks, mate. Yeah I liked the sort of harmony-opening-up quality of the shifts myself. Glad you felt that. All these assignments have definitely gotten me thinking about a new album. I think a finished version of this could belong, for sure.
nurphgun July 24, 2020 9:45am
The low end in this tune + the soaring vocals make the whole thing totally gripping. It’s beautifully gentle, something I love about all your submissions. There are many moments that remind me of other things in the best way; just one that’s totally random, the little “no-ahh” high note at 1:25 & a few other places reminds me of this lil vocal moment in “Barely Breathing” by Duncan Shiek, one of my fav songs of all time, and one that is planted deeply in my musical psyche, such that I hear it in almost everything.
Ryan July 24, 2020 11:39am
That’s kind of you, thanks Nora. Dude, Duncan Sheik!! God, 90s production was so fucking good.
nick July 23, 2020 9:44am
cmon man there’s some thommy. how much fun is it to sing like that?! really great job. that first “Yeah I believe we’re aliens—Cause surely this is outer space.” superb. Now I just want a little extra-terrestrial twinkle to swell in there. Ya know, gimme a lil shooting star. I don’t blame you for wanting to put more time into this one, but hey, when you’re here, you’re family. Looking forward to the final piece.
Ryan July 23, 2020 11:15am
That twinkle is definitely what’s missing. Looking forward to finding it. *looks up at the night sky pensively*
Z July 27, 2020 8:40pm
“There’s a shooting-star like guitar melody right around the two minute mark.” – Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Ryan July 28, 2020 12:29pm
“Yeehaw, I just saw a shootin’ star” – Tim McGraw Tyson
Ben July 21, 2020 8:31am
I love the low-end gurgles of the guitar. Especially when you go to that chord at around 1:08 (is that one of those Fs with the two high strings ringing?) – that kind of thing will always get me. The guitar solo is great and spacious and I love when it follows the walk-down at 1:40 and 1:55. Agree with Alec about the Soundgarden vibes.
The harmonic moves work well for me, especially when they’re sort of automatically tucked into the arpeggios of the chords. In fact, when you hit those couple extra notes at the very end, I was struck by how well the walk-down bass/gtr notes had been folded into the harmonic structure throughout the song when you were arpeggiating the chords because, when playing unaccompanied at the tail end of the song, the notes sounded so abrupt and aggressive by contrast. Very cool.
Also not to just list out more artists I’m reminded of, but the “yeh I believe we’re aliens” is very Thom Yorke.
This is great and I know you said you’re looking forward to revisiting, but I really like the mostly unchanging slow and heavy trudge of the drum beat. Just solid and ride-heavy. I almost feel like the only way to make it better would be to just play it live on a real kit, but don’t really change the composition.
Ryan July 21, 2020 1:20pm
Thanks, Benzo. Yeah plenty of low-end gurgles in this one lol. That chord is an F9 plus the open G and B string, yep. This tune is in Drop D (first time in a while!) with the E string tuned up to a G (caution).
Yes! So glad that tuck worked for you! I was really happy with how that part of the melody justified the funky bass movement—stoked that stuck out to you. Yep, Thom and Soundgarden definitely present in this one. Glad the minimalism is working for you—it is for me, too—but you’re absolutely right that it needs a human drummer. Just a few super subtle changes would go a long way. I also want to write a second guitar part for the second chorus for the sake of development. I think that’s sort of all it needs.
alechutson July 20, 2020 7:50pm
Lol your “no mix/no time” submissions are always solid, and this is no exception.
Harmonic moves are giving me mellow Soundgarden vibes, I dig.
alechutson July 20, 2020 7:52pm
A little Minus the Bear in there as well
Ryan July 20, 2020 9:34pm
Thanks, man. Now that I have even a teenyweeny clue on how to mix it just kills me when I don’t get to do some on these submissions lol. But I’m glad it passes, at least! Yeah there’s some Black Hole Sun in there for sure—didn’t realize until much later. But I do freaking love that track.
Carseat July 19, 2020 9:50pm
You always have such good guitar ideas. I’m grooving. I like the little reverbed follower of the melody at what appears to be the chorus. And mmm that chug at the end.
Ryan July 20, 2020 9:31pm
Thanks! There’s a joke amongst most of the people I’ve made records with that I’ve never actually written a song with a chorus. Just 14 different verses per song. Sometimes a post-chorus—never a chorus.