Hey everyone, welcome back to Deconstructed! This week, we’re pulling back the curtain on a brand new track, one that’s still got that fresh-out-of-the-practice-room energy. What you’re about to see and hear is a one-minute snippet, raw and unfiltered, recorded straight onto a phone. No fancy mics – just the bare bones of a song that started life last week as a few words scrawled on an envelope.
This new track carries a certain urgency, an almost insistent vibe. Funnily enough, while we were laying it down, someone mentioned it had a touch of that restless energy from the “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” era of R.E.M. Maybe it’s the driving rhythm or the way the melody seems to push forward, but there’s definitely something in the air. It’s a song that felt like it needed to dance through my body into the world (yeah, that sounds a little weird, doesn’t it?!). I think in the studio, we’ll explore distorted guitars alongside clean sections to represent those moments when we suddenly glimpse the clarity of what the world could be, contrasting with the frequent static and noise.
But beyond the sound, the lyrics for this one hit pretty hard. My writing at the moment so often dwells on the state of the world, whilst trying to maintain hope and reflect on my local spaces – the landscapes, the people, and the communities I’m surrounded by. I want to be guided by the changing seasons, literally and metaphorically. Lent is a reflective and also creative time for me; I’m fasting and praying, and still working full time. And like so many of us, that means existing in several spaces at once, trying to hold things in balance rather than tension. I think my writing currently reflects all of this, wrestles with it, and tries to find the hope and love in the face of some of the terrible things that happen globally. We have to seize the day, whatever that day brings, and sometimes it’s fucking hard. Through music, I’m trying to deepen my connection to life, and the feeling in the final lines reflects a deepening of that commitment to truly engage, and I’m hoping to encourage others to do that too.
Here are the lyrics as written so far:
NO REASON THAT EXISTS
A mighty cavalcade,
a shambling parade,
that some call life,
that some call…
life?
Don’t live in the shadows and charades,
cast off your masquerade,
and waltz to the tune you are living,
waltz to the tune you are living.
I heard the news today,
the news, tryin’ to hold sway,
a little child gone too quickly,
a mother murdered,
and what for?
her life didn’t matter,
her life didn’t matter
And what about this!
5 Aid workers SHOT,
for no reason I can see that exists,
for no reason I can see that exists,
and is it treason,
to despair at this season we are in,
to despair at this season we are in.
A mighty cavalcade,
a shambling parade,
that some call life,
that some call life
Don’t live in the shadows and charades,
cast off your role for the day,
and waltz to the tune you are living,
and dance to the life you are living,
you are living,
you are living,
YOU ARE LIVING…
This is just my initial take, of course. Music and lyrics can mean different things to everyone, and the beauty lies in that personal connection. So, take a listen to the raw demo below. What do you hear in the music and the words? What feelings or images does it conjure up for you? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Stay tuned for the next installment of Deconstructed, where we’ll dive deeper into the evolution of this track, some of our other songs, and also tracks from some of our favourite artists.
The World Outside the Window 