New Project Concept Art:
Our process was relatively odd in that we began our online collaboration project during a socially distanced outing in New York City’s Riverside Park. Seeing the familiar sight of a friend after a long period of quarantine was such a gift. Not long after catching up and sharing stories, we had already begun writing lyrics for our future collaboration.
We started with a brainstorm of ideas, concepts, feelings, experiences, situations and beyond. We discussed Covid-19 and how it affected artists and education before moving to more imaginative topics.
One common interest we landed upon was the way we felt that certain accomplished or amazing individuals can seem impossibly distant or unreachable at times while probably being quite relatable in real life. This train of thought subconsciously helped us in the next phase of writing lyrics.
Instead of laying our goals out clearly beforehand, we dove right into the lyrical content of our piece. Lounging on a picnic blanket in the warm summer sun (6ft apart), we took turns jotting lines down in a journal. Our initial draft became our final set of lyrics for the project – unpolished but true to how we felt in the moment.
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Lyrics to “Twilight Entropy”:
Resonate like a flaming star
Joined by constellations
Mountain peaks right where you are
Think so much but I say none
Light the ocean in your reflection
Escape through silent ripples
Twilight Entropy distilled
Whatever comes, only to be spilled
so long shadow in the corner
I’m off go anywhere for you
I’m taking the steps that I need to to break through to you
I don’t got all the answers now,
navigate break away the doubt
you and I could run this town
darling, we’ll figure it out
When reality crushed our art
I held on to the spark
moments never felt so dark
like Noah’s ark, we’re just binary stars
tears sear down, they burn so sharp
yet so beautiful are these scars
so long shadow in the corner
Did I tell you I adore you
I’m taking the steps that I need to to break through to you
I don’t got all the answers now,
navigate break away the doubt
you and I could run this town
darling, we’ll figure it out
Will you let me in? (repeated)
Will you let me in my darling?
I don’t got all the answers now,
navigate break away the doubt
you and I could run this town
darling, we’ll figure it out
X2
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We felt that the spoken images – while not perfectly blending together – evoked the idea of “I don’t got all the answers now” that we had been unknowingly working towards. Using this momentum, we pushed forwards hoping to expand and grow on the words on the page through melody, harmony, and eventually production.
Our process for melody was similar to that for our lyrics. We took turns singing the words on the page, giving them melodies and a tempo, and recording all of our attempts with voice memos. Then we sorted through and picked our favorite sections and phrases from different recordings. From this, we made a single compilation of melodies that comprised our song. We were satisfied and felt that the melody helped describe our thoughts in ways beyond words.
Excited to keep moving, we quickly got our hand on a guitar and began using the notes of the melody to reverse-engineer chords for harmony. This took us around 45 minutes, and from that we had a final draft of our song!
Later on in a virtual setting, we decided that the unpolished lyrics lent to the idea of not having all “the answers now,” and were okay without further revision. Instead we focused the rest of effort on the production, using lots of different digital techniques to completely change the sound and presentation of the song. The final unmixed product of this project is below, if you would like to listen!
“Twilight Entropy” Draft 1 Unmixed
However, seeing as we began this project in person together, we decided to keep creating a new project in the same vein~ using the same concept but trying the full process virtually!
Most of our conversations and reimaginations have happened so far through text. Fortunately, we have a lot of the song already complete (lyrics, melody, and harmony) and have a sense of our next steps, direction, and ability to meet virtually. Our lyrics, melody, and structure all need some revision and redrafting, but here is how they stand for now! “Tapestry”:
Wherever your head’s at I’ll meet you there
Whatever the story We’ll be prepared
Your hurried steps, they take you far
Heading for the breach
Do you know just what you seek?
A bit of envy on your cheek
Can I brush it off for you to see
There’s a tapestry
Your reaction to chase the sun
Don’t need a grand script just to be
There’s a tapestry
Life lines laced,
But then again something changes
when the tides come and favor one soul,
break the balance away
The sand dunes shifting
And the peaks rearrange,
but the grains still remain, stay unchanged
The simple light, the story of the sun
But when the day is done,
An infinite array of stars above
Glancing through a telescope,
But in your heart do you know?
Your hurried steps that take you far
Now heading for the breach
Do you know what you seek?
A bit of envy on your cheek
Can I brush it off for you to see
There’s a tapestry
Your reaction to chase the sun
Don’t need a grand script just to be
There’s a tapestry
Bridge:
(Not yet written)
Final chorus:
(May change some of the lyrics)
Outro:
(Production/riffs)
Here is a rough draft recording so far!
“Tapestry” is about the idea that everyone is the main character of their own life. We are all complex and unique individuals that exist in an intricately laced fashion, creating one massive tapestry. The idea behind the song is that there are sometimes two scales upon which to judge a person and their story… the individual level where everyone is the main character and equal in that right, and the universal level where there are certain individuals with interesting and impactful stories ~ this second group could be seen as the main characters of the world, and feeding into this mentality might cause one to blindly follow a detrimental ideal. The chorus of “Tapestry” speaks to this, validating every individual as important and interesting and intrinsically connected in the nature of our universal tapestry. We hope to keep expanding on this idea and develop the song to a finished state and maybe make some visuals after that!
Thank you for reading!! Would love to hear your thoughts, comments, suggestions 🙂
Max & Gloria
Humans in Harmony 