Come as a Surprise

Here's song #4 - A wistful approach to the confusion of a one-way relationship.

In fairness this is another one that I've been working on for a while and haven't finalized until just now.

Getting the skeletons out of the closet just makes room for more skeletons!

And metaphors that don't quite work are like blue jeans one size too small. You just wish they hadn't gone and ...done that.

Anyway, enjoy the tune while I scramble for what I'm going to do next week. Any ideas?

Take it easy,

Seth

Not Your Fault

This is a tune I've actually been working on forever. I mean for-freaking-ever.

So sometimes a deadline is a good way to say "Enough is enough - get it finished enough for a rough draft." It forces you to make decisions rather than dither around waiting for the song to become more than it is. Then once you've got the foundation established you can still labor over the details for, you know, another couple years or something.

That said, this came out pretty well. Though, you'll have to turn up your speakers in order to really hear what I'm doing on the guitar.

I'm quite interested to hear what cello and saxophone are going to do to this arrangement-wise. It's got a lot of room for the dynamics to rise and fall.

Maybe the darkness/red light motif was a little over the top, but you gotta admit it's more interesting than just watching me sit there and play.

Take it easy,

Seth

Homecoming

Entry #2 in the Fifty Rough Drafts Project.

This song was inspired by a certain little sister who shall remain nameless.



If I was to do a second draft (and I might - this tune came out well and there are a couple of strong themes and phrases to build on) there are a couple of things I'd clean up.

But part of what makes this song neat is the honesty and that it's not over-thought-out. If that makes any sense.

Let me know what you think.

Take it easy,

Seth

Hero of My Story

This is the first installment of the Fifty Rough Drafts. It's a new song, written over the course of a week.

I figured there were enough Youtube videos out there of some chump just sitting and playing guitar, so I opted to get a tiny bit theatrical. It turned out to be kind of fun so I may continue to do that. I'll try not to go overboard.

Anyway, here's the clip. Thanks for tuning in.



The inspiration comes from a theme that strikes a chord with me for some reason - that each villain is the hero of their own story. So this is a song about a guy who, in order to become a hero for himself, had to become a villain to somebody else.

Which could be most people really.

Take it easy,

Seth

Fifty Rough Drafts

One of my New Years' Resolutions was to write or learn a song every week in 2010.
This blog will attempt to chronicle that.

Results will likely be spotty - some good, some bad.
Posts will likely include some essays on songwriting and inspiration, and a recording or video each week of the new song.
My focus is to stimulate creativity, write, learn, and grow as a songwriter and hopefully as a person.

Pretentious? Perhaps. But it's honest.
This is the reason I'm a musician.

Seth