new track: Heroes

Mutation album page

archive.org

ok, on this song 'heroes' i was going for a 'gackt/kamijo malice mizer/lareine type of thing', but it got out of hand.

in comparison to the other songs on this album, 'heroes' is a real 'frequency soup'. but alas, it's part of 'nasoalmo' (national solo album month) project and needed to be 'completed' before the end of november.

heroes lyrics:

i'd once thought there was so much to say
then looked back at the words upon the page
and was taken aback at my own outrage
but there was at least one thing that remained to be said

this song is about heroes
such a thin line from zeroes
what is it that divides us
what is it that unites us

the main thing i'd like to sing
is that it is heroic to keep on trying
that's all you needed to rise above
is the striving, perchance based upon love

you get out of bed each day
and take a step or two in your way
that's what makes you a hero
the application of elbow grease

and of that which was once bittersweet
all that is retained are bitter remains
of the hallowed magnum opus
reduced to tweets and twitters

to take each breath is a miracle
to strive to create is empirical
to guard the gates is chimerical
to not lose sight is almost lyrical

so if you just put one foot ahead of the other
to dream of, and work toward a better tomorrow
you are the heroes of the open air prison
and ultimate joy will be a reward for all your sorrow

('chorus')
can you trade a smile with someone who is blue?
can you wear the coat of many colored hues?
you are the heroes of the newfound truths
there with your candy bars, baby ruths

when the body begins to fail you
and your heart is broken
there is still something left to do
in the realms of the unspoken

in any event we sally forth
as would be our good fortune
may the winds of fate guide you
to someplace beyond this destitution

when the body and the heart are broken
there remains at least one song to be sung or spoken
when playing the guitar is almost a bridge too far
there yet remains that unseen divine spark

That's quite an epic, mrblitz. There are lots of different elements at work here. 'Trons to begin with, which always catch my attention. I really enjoyed the first guitar solo. Good lyrics too.

There do seem to be a lot of overlapping components in terms of frequency here. Maybe it's a case of "Master in haste, remix at leisure"

Good work

Thanks for this great stuff!

thanks for the listens/comments!

i've remixed heroes, and am in the process of updating the single-song link, then the .rar file, then the archive.org copy.

the new mix has more volume on the 'mellotron' ('meltron' vsti). also, some guitar was cut in the area of strongest bass line (~200hz), and the bass was likewise 'high shelfed' to make more room for the guitar.

the vocals could be better, but the haphazard single take kind of matches the lyrics, so i'm leaving them be for now.

if anything, maybe the drums are a bit 'recessed' in the mix but hopefully it's an overall improvement nonetheless.

in working on this song, i wanted to finish something, just to get the string bits out there. it's almost as though the entire piece is kind of a filler for the meltron bits; that the meltron is the star of the tune.

heroes is a song i sat on for over two weeks; not knowing what to sing. there were originally a whole different set of lyrics, but so much of it read back like a raging screed; so, the lyrics were 'finally' rewritten, with just a few passages left from the original.

the part about 'broken body and heart' was a sense i'd arrived at the day before the lyric rewrite and actual vocal take. i'd been shoveling sand, shoveling dirt, moving large bricks around; basically the only kind of what little paying work that's been available in the past several years.

so, after a day of doing that out in the late november rain; and having had some weird 'nerve issues' in my hands a couple of nights prior; it was like, 'man this phreaking sucks!'

i think that's why vinnie vincent* is such a favorite of mine. people say he has zero practical sense; and whether that's true or not; i can see that of myself; zero practical sense in life. it's like i've got this odd sense of ethics and integrity, and it's neither creating social and working relationships, nor paying the bills.

lol... anyway, that's the story of 'heroes'. the main point being, that anyone who keeps trying is a real-life hero.

on the bright side, i've been reworking a couple more songs, and hope to have those recorded soon. there's an entire new solo for 'rhymes with holy', but again it's going to be an issue of whether my hands can hold up through the playing of that 'extended flurry of notes'. a single take would be ideal, but it's a 'lot of notes, for a long time'.

in short; with heroes, the sort of pathos of the vocal take is a good match for the palimpsestic lyrics. i just want anyone reading this to know that if you're making an effort in life, you're a hero.

(* i don't want to pan vinnie. it's not clear what exactly happened with him. man, he could play a guitar like nobody's business though. oh, and he could write songs.)

Far out. I've been listening to whole album while formatting some nonsense brochure, it helped me to survive this. Cheers.

Heroes doesn't load on archive page for me, for some reason.

on the archive.org page, i'd replaced heroes with a new mix. when that happens, the ogg vorbis coversion doesn't occur for the new (replacement) file. i wasn't previously aware of issues with the player in this event, though.

anyway, thanks again everyone.

as for my state of mind the day of the vocal take; moving heavy bricks and dirt around isn't really that bad; it's just that, being nearly 50 years old, i'd perhaps hoped for a bit better situation in life by now.

of course, it seems pretty bad just about everywhere, so idk...