In this page I will be speaking about a few points to highlight the context in which they exist, just to make it abundantly clear. I will be covering topics such as lyrics, composition, and live looping.
Lyrics
I am a highly political person and anyone who knows me would probably expect me to include an element of that into my writing. I stay up-to-date with politics and engage with it where possible, but even the most oblivious among us would be able to tell you that society feels very fractured currently. This is one of the core ideas in my writing, this idea that the only way we can really progress as a people is with humanity, by appreciating those around us and the nature we have, and to just come together as one. Now, I’m very sceptical and I am wary of the notion that everybody should just coexist with one another regardless of personal politics, as I, myself, would be unable to live alongside someone whose politics are antithetical to mine. A lot of the time it feels insincere and ignores the fact that we can’t just overlook hatred in another’s heart with the hope of just living peacefully, so I am cautious to avoid that message. My message is aimed towards people who aren’t on opposite sides of the aisle, it is aimed to those who live in communities where there isn’t a great deal of cooperation, where community spirit is a thing of the past, and to those who may not be appreciating the time they spend with loved ones.
I also cover things which I feel that most of us can relate to, such as social media being a cesspit. It is arguably the central point where interpersonal conflict occurs in this modern era; I love social media but everybody knows that for all its benefits, many people suffer. One thing that I feel a lot of working people can relate to is the last couplet of the first verse, where I talk about working “For the man”. I am firmly anti-capitalist and it pains me that people will just be spending vast amounts of their time building profit for higher ups and corporations; working people run themselves into the ground to survive whilst the suits receive their huge monthly bonuses. This is what inspired that lyric and goes further to evidence that my work is inspired by the political culture we live in today. I just hope that some people heard my message and took it honestly, as distrust is commonplace these days, and understandably so.
Composition
With regards to my composition, I looked to ‘80s synthpop for inspiration. It is a sound that had a lot of British influence and gained a cult following in the years after the initial bubble burst. Recently, it has had somewhat of a resurgence as we see acts from the period making a comeback (i.e. Tears For Fears) as well as the sonic themes becoming popular in certain circles, such as the citypop trend and the synth-heavy songs dominating the charts in recent months, years even. This led me to go back and listen to some older albums and I enjoyed what I heard! By then I’d fallen into the sound and it really gave me motivation to work on something using synths, something with those ‘80s sounding drums, and I’d be remiss to not mention the spoken word aspect of some songs of the time, which of course inspired me.
Whilst I wanted to take advantage of that popularity in sound and the inspiration I was finding in the songs I enjoyed, I ended up straying away from that original idea. Whilst I managed to incorporate synths into my final composition, it wasn’t as synth-focused as it might’ve been had I really stuck closely to my aim. Additionally, the drums felt of the era but the rest of the song sounded somewhat more modern than what I had in mind. I’m not upset at the development of my piece, I think starting off with synthpop as a foundation to build from worked well for me, and it gave me great ideas which I did take into my work, the case is just that my final piece was explicitly synthpop. It had clear influences and that’s enough for me.
Live Looping
Before heading into this final project I knew I wanted to do something different to what was expected; being a music student, there is the obvious option for a final project which is to create a song or two to release. This is something I want to do at some point but it felt too obvious, and I prefer to do things differently. This lead me to look for alternatives. I knew I enjoyed performance and I remembered Lewis mentioning that the Ableton Push 2 can be used for live sets, so that was the spark. It was a snap decision to go in this direction, having decided on it the day before we had to submit our first idea for the final project, so I wasn’t sure of the specifics but I was relieved to have found the niche I wanted.
It isn’t a hugely popular method used in performance as there are limitations to it and access to the equipment isn’t everywhere, particularly for beginners – but that’s precisely what attracted me to it. I can’t do this anywhere else so I wanted to make the most of this opportunity. Looking at wider media, looping is known within artists who use guitars but that is mostly just one person and a guitar, whereas this style of looping uses a whole host of instruments and is not really in the public consciousness. Arguably the most famous example of it in recent times could be Germany’s 2022 Eurovision entry; I’m not certain how exactly their act was looping everything but, in any case, he moved from instrument to instrument before adding vocals much like myself. It is a relatively niche style, and that is why I chose to perform in such a manner.