KVR Audio

JackDark · Post by **JackDark** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:13 pm

The second track from Denizen is complete:

Far Away in the Countryside (download)

starving dog chasing a dove
no one i know is in love
your broken heart can follow mine
far away in the countryside

well it's a shame yes i know
but it's the same wherever i go
deep beneath the city lights
far away in the countryside

there's freedom to be found
when no one else is around
when the tears finally dry
far away in the countryside

well it's a shame yes i know
but it's the same wherever i go
deep beneath the city lights
far away in the countryside

-

This ends the trilogy of "woe is love" songs started with Asunder and continued with Red Sky Grey.

I think you'll find Far Away in the Countryside more "poppy" than my last two releases. This song actually has a chorus of sorts, and even a hook or two. Opinions are wanted. I definitely want to know what you think about this one. Good or bad.

Thanks for your time.

JackDark · Post by **JackDark** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:16 pm

Well if no one has an opinion, that's cool.

But howabout a recommendation of some other artists that sound like this? I'd like to hear more music in the same vein I'm working in now. Thanks.

Liquidclear · Post by **Liquidclear** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:56 pm

Had a quick listen and I have to say I enjoyed listening to both tracks alot. I like the 'relaxed' vibe of Far Away in the Countryside, especially the instrumental bits...a very nice synthpop feel.

Red Sky Grey was good too, nice bellish clanky sounds.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the EP now.

Vox sound solid...even with less obvious effects as some of your previous efforts.

Anyway, back to work

-LC

bobsled · Post by **bobsled** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 5:21 pm

Don't know about "poppy" as I'm pretty disconnected from all that ( the musical genre, I mean

). Just wanted to write how much I enjoyed the rhythm and rhythmic sounds in this piece. Had my head nodding in time. Shaping up to be a cohesive, strong, well produced EP.

Thanks for the great tune.

JackDark · Post by **JackDark** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:03 pm

>LC

From a musical perspective I too like FAITC moreso, I'm a sucker for synthpop. Artistically I feel RSG is the better track. I hope you like the rest of the EP also. Each song will definitely be its own thing... for better or worse. My new vocals... the opinions I've been getting from others has been mixed. I don't claim to be the world's best singer by any means, but if I can pull off vocals that don't annoy the listener, I can live with that. Hence the lack of kooky FX this time around. Thanks for your time and opinions bro.

>Bobsled

I guess I meant poppy in the context of the composition of the track. Verse, chorus, verse chorus, bridge and all that. I won't lie to you the rhythm parts of FAITC make my head bob too, especially with cans on. I'm pretty damned proud of this song, I think it's the best I've made in years. Unfortunately I haven't gotten much feedback about it at all from the usual channels... so maybe I'm being a little self delusional. ;p Thanks for your comments man.

-

To anyone else reading I was serious about finding music by others that sounds like what I'm doing for Denizen. If there's any other artists doing the same thing I definitely want to hear it.

pattonfreak1 · Post by **pattonfreak1** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 9:51 pm

This is an excellent track, Jack (heh).
Reminds me of Billy Idols "Eyes without a face".

Liquidclear · Post by **Liquidclear** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 10:02 pm

JackDark wrote: ...If there's any other artists doing the same thing I definitely want to hear it.

Haven't heard anything quite like your stuff. You probably have to worry more about not ripping yourself off.

JackDark · Post by **JackDark** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:21 pm

>Pattonfreak1

Thanks for your compliment, I will check out Idol's song ASAP!

>Liquidclear

Gracias for your opinion on that. I guess that can be seen as a positive or a negative aspect, depending.

Emerald Tablet · Post by **Emerald Tablet** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:30 pm

aren't opinions for opinionated dicks

?

anyway! topnotch production
love the slightly 80's depeche mode like arangement and the destorted bliss!

crispy funky nifty dity

i feel it

thanks for a lovely poem and a good song

what did you use to make this (daw and plugs?)

Jazzyspoon · Post by **Jazzyspoon** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 5:33 pm

Always nice to see your work on here, Jack.
Nice drums and textures. Your vocal approach is unique and sincere.
Tastefully good listen.
Thanks for letting us hear it.

oddbod · Post by **oddbod** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 11:38 pm

Menacing overtones are very good and a nice ambience of all 3 tracks.
Not sure if the wailing rambling vocal melodies get a bit much when listening to more than one track in close succesion though.
I liked it on Asunder, but maybe losing it's appeal slightly here.
Top notch music though, and once again the lyrics are excellent.

synthgeek · Post by **synthgeek** » Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:04 am

I like it- makes me think of a more synthpop-bent Tear Garden. Cool sounds in here.

danielmm · Post by **danielmm** » Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:45 am

Very unusual and interesting.

I can see the parallels that have been made here but I think your style is very unique.
It's the bouncy beat mixed with the dark vox that contrast nicely in this song. I would like to here the vocals get edgier as in parts as the song progress but you may be going for a different feel there.
Was a little disappointed with the ending. Maybe a little too abrupt for me.

Cool song over-all though.
Thanks for sharing this with us.....
dano

JackDark · Post by **JackDark** » Fri Nov 09, 2007 1:09 pm

>Emerald Tablet

Perhaps in place of "opinions" I should say "comments" or "constructive criticism. I do admit there's some Depeche Mode sounds in this song. That wasn't on purpose. But, considering I'm a rabid DM fan I guess that's inevitable. You are the second person as of recent to refer to my lyrics as poetry. While I take that as a compliment I also find it sort of strange. As I'm attempting to write lyrics not poems. Considering the years I've spent writing poetry I guess that had a permanent effect.

I made this song using Cool Edit Pro 2, FL Studio 5, and a variety of VSTs. Of the VSTs used, some worth mentioning are Blockfish (love this dirty compressor), Sytrus (my favorite VST synth), PiWarp, some Nuclear Cranium, and a bit of Sizzle Spine & X-FX. The drums in this track are from the Fruity Drumsynth. The only hardware used was the PC and a mid-budget microphone.

Thanks for your comments, question.

>Jazzyspoon

I appreciate your compliments. The textures in this track came from Sytrus with some external FX on top. I do try to pull off unique vox without relying on crazy FX to do so anymore. I'm not the greatest singer in the world so if I can nail "bearable" I think I'm doing okay.

>Oddbod

I will take into consideration what you've said about the vocals. I definitely do need to mix up the way the vox are delivered on this EP some, you're right, and that was always in the works. The next song on this album, Shield Of Shadows has hardly an vocals, only a spoken-word haiku. After that, (People) Disappoint You has much faster paced singing. But the final track Or Current Occupant goes back to the slower singing (it's kind of a dirge). Thank you for your compliments on the music and lyrics!

>Synthgeek

Thank you for your comments. I will check out Tear Garden.

>Danielmm

It always makes me happy to hear people call my music unique. As musicians all of you know how hard it is to come up with music that doesn't instantly fall into a previous genre. Which is only natural considering how many hundreds of thousands of songs there are in the world. In the past I use to use insane FX and f**ked up compositions to ascertain uniqueness... but that sort of stuff is a crutch and doesn't lend itself to actual "music". These days I'm more interested in writing music that invokes emotional activity rather than cerebral activity. As such that makes writing unique music that much more difficult. It's hard to pull of unique without creating annoying. I'm rambling.

Thanks for your comment on the beat. I'm very proud of the percussion layers in this song.

There will be edgy vocals in (People) Disappoint You. Overall I want Denizen to sound like "night time music". IMO that means more laid back vox for the majority.

If the song ended too soon for you, that's a good thing I think. I'd rather leave one wanting more than getting burnt out and pressing the "skip" button to the next track. This is a problem in my mind that has always been rampant with the vast majority of electronic musicians. They make a point with a track and then pad it out 2 or 5 minutes longer after that point's already been made. I'm more into minimalism and precision these days.

-

A big fat thanks to everyone that's responded so far. I am always very grateful to receive constructive feedback. KVR is one of the very few places on the net I can actually find that. Considering the kind of music I write.

+ Far Away in the Countryside +