(untitled 5/31/09)

Washington

The year is hedging towards the halfway marker and I still have a lot to do in regards to my New Year's resolution. But with the end of the Washington trip comes the end of the school year, and summer will leave me with lots of time to focus on finishing up more music. Recently I've been listening to a lot of older material (about a year or two left forgotten) and I've noticed that I'm in a much different place musically. In order for to get the album where I want, I'm going to need to come up with a lot more entirely original material. Exciting and daunting. The good news is that the lyrics and vocal melodies have been coming fairly easily lately, though in a strange twist of fate, the music remains elusive; where I used to be able to start up a few decent loops in a day, I'll now bang away at the keys with nothing to show for it.

While I try to come up with something new, here are some pictures that I liked from the trip. The architecture of the buildings amaze me every time. The National Cathedral is unbelievable.

Memorial Day Weekend Camping

Facebook

This is me attempting to stay current. I made a Facebook page. Enjoy.

Tongue-Tied

What was "Pit Stains" is now "Tongue-Tied." Enjoy.

The Sun

I've had this one sitting around with vocals for quite a few months at this point, but I was never too happy with the vocal take. I recently redid them and am happy enough to put it up. The one part of this song that I'm still not sure about is the extended instrumental bridge. I think it sounds a bit off, or at least a bit too long with no singing, but that could be because I'm simply over analyzing the song. It's nice to have some keys highlighted, and I can only imagine that when this is performed live the drums will really get the focus to a point where no one will be missing the voice, but I'll probably be trying to get something to fit there for a while longer.

Remind me to post about the potential concept for the album.

Here's The Sun.

I'm also going to see if I can post a vocal version of "Pit Stains" before the day is over. I finished recording some choruses and vocals yesterday, but I have a little bit more to go.

Are the chords cutting through yet?

School has been busy lately. I'm currently searching for a new book to teach to the seventh graders next year, with a few prospects in mind. If you have any ideas, don't hesitate to share. While I haven't been sitting in front of the computer and writing music lately, I have been driving around with "Pit Stains" virtually on loop, working on vocals. I'm shooting to finish up a vocal demo this weekend.

While we wait, here's a picture of a bubbles in front of a door.