Excitement Returns!

The reality that school is almost over, I mean like as in forever, is filling me with desires to accomplish things in my life that have been put off for far too long.  You know,things like finishing this album that is already two years later than I had planned as it is.  

Knowing that I'm graduating gives me and feeling of freedom that is unlike anything I've felt in a long time.  Not only will I have more time and less distractions, it feels like a huge cloud that has loomed over my head for years is vanishing.  A huge burden is being lifted from my back.  My main long term goal for the past (large number that I'd rather not specify) years is nearly accomplished.

So, back to the album...

I've taken an important step and gone through all the song I have at this stage, whether completed, semi-completed, or barely started...and I've come up with a working tracklist.  Doing this has made this project feel more real and given me some new enthusiasm to get it completed.

Here is the tracklist I've come up with.  Remember that many of these are incomplete or need major work...

1. Take Our Chances
2. Castles In the Sand
3. This Moment
4. Wherever You Go
5. The Enemy Is Me
6. Dear Friend
7. By And By
8. Take Our Chances (Again)
9. Drifting Away
10. So Far Gone
11. [Instrumental] (needs a name)
12. Comfort Me

There are a number of songs that got left off of this list either because the quality is not yet what it should be or they are just not far enough along in the completion process.  There is plenty of this "B" material that hopefully will come together quickly for the next album.  I've got a lot of time to make up for.  Here's a few of these songs...

• The Edge Of the Known Universe
• Somewhere In Between
• Never And Forever
• Anything At All
• Save My Soul
• There's a Certain Darkness That's Gone

So there you go...

Stay tuned if you're still out there and care.  There should be a lot more updates in the coming weeks.  Are you excited?  Well I am and that's really all that matters.

My Oh My, How the Time Does Fly

Well here I am again. Three months seems to be how long it takes me to get to this blog. It has been a crazy few months around the Gillice home, so I'll use that as my excuse for not updating. Between the final stages of pregnancy, a birth and recovery gone wrong, and a small man child that needs attention every waking hour, I have managed to actually get some work done on the album.

Most of what I have accomplished in recent weeks is the finishing and fixing up of lyrics. Most recently (last weekend) I have focused my efforts on getting one song completely finished. That song, "The Enemy Is Me" has been lying around for well over a year. I got the lyrics to a place where I can live with them and so I decided to just finish it off. I now have it to a near final mix. A few more day/weeks of listening and changing and it should be done.

Also, I have 2 very different versions of a song called "Take Our Chances" that I am thinking might both make the album. One will be sort of a reprise of the other but in a very different style. Whichever version I decide to put second in the track order will be called "Take Our Chances Again" since the word "again" is the actual lyric and to differentiate the two songs and because you are hearing it "again" for the second time on the album.

There is a new song that has been developed in recent months called "Never And Forever". The music is fairly cool but I'm unsure about the melody and lyrics. Right now I just want to finish songs that are near completion before working on newer stuff. I've got to finish someday, right?

3 Months? Where Have I Been?

OK so yeah. I actually went on a recording spree a few weeks back (months?) and got quite a bit done. I kind of go in spurts like that. Sometimes I feel like I have so many songs and ideas in various stages of completion that it is daunting to try to decide where to even begin. I get the most done when I just choose one song to work on and just go to town.

The last song I have been working on (quite a few weeks ago now) is a song called "Take Our Chances". I made some substantial changes to it and mellowed it out a lot. It has some nice slide guitar in it now and a more county/folk vibe than it used to. It was originally a full on Rock song. I still have the old version saved so eventually I'll post both and people can decide which one they like better. I think this new version fit better with the direction I would like to go with this next album.

Am I really still recording an album? Sometimes I forget.

A Few Lyrical Excerpts

Comfort Me

And what have we become?
In a world of failing schemes and broken dreams
We make ourselves a home

And time keeps moving on
With so much left undone
We run to try and catch the setting sun

But we fall by the way
As our tired, useless legs betray
The masters that they once obeyed

And who could even say
If we're worthy of our days
And the untold prices we have paid

But this is who we are
And this is how we'll always be
I was alone
You came to comfort me...


The Enemy Is Me
(formerly "Stability Crisis")

Now that I have been let in
And I have made things right again
I feel like I am neither here nor there

I'm sure that it must be a sin
To dream about what might have been
Or is the greater sin to pretend that I don't care?

...

Happiness is something
That used to come and go

And heartache is a long lost friend
That I don't hardly know...anymore

But I'm coming to accept the fact
That everything's OK

And it's hard to sit and write this song
When I don't have much to say...anyway


Wherever You Go

Save my soul
I would forget myself
If I could take control

But more and more
I can't forgive myself
My back's against this wall
And I don't know...

If I can take this anymore

UPDATE:

I know it's been a while since I have posted. Between getting ready to move and school and work, I haven't done much with music lately. Last week though, Desta and Zoe were out of town and I had a few days to write and record. While I did not get as much done as I would have liked, I made some progress on a couple of new songs. One is a pretty rocking affair called "Castles In the Sand" that is quite fun and promising. That song has been sitting around for like a year and a half and was just waiting to be recorded. The other song I worked on is a newer piece that does not have a title yet. I like it quite a bit and am hopeful that it will turn out great.

At this point I really have SO MUCH material to work with. It is hard to figure out which is the most promising and what I should spend my time working on. Maybe I'll just make 2 albums simultaneously? Who knows. But rest assured that the work in going forward.

Once we get moved into our new place and settled a bit, hopefully I can get back into recording on a more regular basis.

IN OTHER NEWS:
"By And By" has just made it to round 2 at Garageband.com and has jumped up to number 50 (of 332) on the "Folk Rock" chart. It currently has a 4.7 (out of 5) star rating.

"By And By" to Be Folk Rock Track of the Day at Garageband.com

On January 22nd, "By And By" will be featured HERE as Folk Rock Track of the Day. It also was chosen as "Best Lyrics in Folk Rock" and "Best Beat in Folk Rock" for the week of Jan 14th.

It has been steadily climbing the Garageband.com Charts and currently sits at #88 of 235 (all-time: #749 of 2,820) in the Folk Rock genre. These awards and chart positions are based reviews by other users/musicians so it's nice to get a small bit of recognition for this song which is one of my personal favorites.

New Recordings, Mixes and Equipment Failures

Well, I have had the a week and a half of nothing but free time. Tomorrow I will start up work and school again. I am glad to say that during this time I was able to get a little bit of recording and mixing done. One of the things that takes the longest about the whole mixing process is that I need to listen to a song for days and weeks before the imperfections become noticeable so that I can fix them. It can take a long time until I am happy enough to declare a song finished.

• "Dear Friend" - Finished recording and came up with a near final mix. It just needs to be tested (listened to on various sound systems) and then any problems fixed in the final mixing process. I think this song turned out pretty well.
• "This Moment" - This song had a final mix (or so I thought), but after weeks of listening to it in the car and on the iPod, something was just not right. So I took the final mix and using waveform editing software I fixed the problems...I hope. This will need to be tested again to see if the new changes will help. It was mostly EQ issues.
• "Stability Crisis" - This song needs a re-write of some of the lyrics and will probably get a new title, but this week I made some other changes to it. I realized that it was in the wrong key. I dropped it down about 2 full steps and I think that made a huge difference. I had to go back and re-program some of the sampled sounds to fit the key change. Then I re-recorded the acoustic guitar to match as well. The song has a different feel to it now but I really like the changes. Oh, I didn't record new vocals for it yet but I did do a pitch shift to the old vocals. Now they are in the right key but sound really funny because they have been digitally altered. I'll have to save a copy of this version just to laugh at later.

I was not able to do all of the recording I would have liked to because my effects processor for the guitar is starting to die. It's a little frustrating because it cost me $90 when I got it 3 years ago. The good news is that if I can't get this one fixed, I can by a much better one for the same price I got this one for. I'm not sure if I want it to be fixed or not.