Fragile Gods - "Greatest Misses" (video added on Dec 28)

[Frantz]

Listened to this a few times now,so here are my thoughts.

Pros: It sounds analogue enough to fool me. Great songwriting. Love the chord changes.

Cons: The drums could do with some variation ? Maybe drop out for a few beats or something ? Vary the velocity ?

The end is too abrupt for my taste. You obviously intended it that way ,but abrupt ending are hard to do right.

Thanks, this is good feedback! I think I will eventually revisit this and add more varied drum fills and change the ending. But I need to put this away for awhile so I can hear it with fresh ears.

[Frantz]

Very cool, really liked this, has a KW meets Manchester feel, its very catchy.
Strings and acid√
Strong beat √
Catchy vocal√
Box1√
Box2√
Yep, ti √ all the boxes

KW meets Manchester is an interesting description. Thanks very much for your encouraging comments.

[fastlanephil]

Great job on this song! Good music and strong lyrics.

I was thinking about the title. I wonder if “ It happens all the time” would make a better title as it’s actually the hook for the listener as far as I can tell. Maybe changing it to “ It happens every time(?) might be catchier in that case or also use “It happens all the time”.

Now I’m thinking you could change the intro to the male and female voices repeating those two phrases with sort of a sexual enuendo to catch the listener’s attention.



Just thinkin’ Like a hack with the cigar.

[layzer]

solid electro-pop. catchy as usual.
yep, relationships - push-pull

[Frantz]

I dig! Backing track sounds like one of those synthwave tunes that's all over youtube. Cool vocals, too.

I am old and out of fashion but maybe I can ride a synthwave back into style? Glad you enjoyed it Moe.

[an-electric-heart]

Cool! That's awesome! Like Wags mentioned in the first comment, I was immediately hit with some Bowie-ness in your voice (not at all in the music), but I don't think you sound like him, or that you're copying him, I think he's just synonymous with that register, so it's hard to not hear that. You're like me, I love 80s music too (maybe a little too much, like I should broaden my pallet a bit ) ... so it's a good time to be alive, because the synthwave/80s thing is back in a big way right now... and I for one will still be doing it when it goes again. Oh yeah, and can't offer any tips to improve the mix; clear, even and punchy, nothing wrong there!

[sjm]

Great stuff, the two voices really work well together and complement each other.

[seismic1]

That's some impressive songwriting, Frantz. I think it's probably your best yet. I love the rhythmic combination of the synth and percussion elements, and your vocals are a great fit with Aika's voice. It's a great combination. I wasn't crazy about the ending. It it were my choice I'd probably take the opening couple of bars from the intro and weld it onto the end of the song, and kill any lingering reverb/delay on the synth with some volume automation so the whole thing stops dead on the downbeat of the second bar. The mix is great.

Good work

[thomekk]

Very good! And very compact concerning the progression of what is happening, which I like. So it is a really catchy pop tune with a bouquet of harmonic ideas and melodies. This is also very summerish with a melancholy inside.
I also appreciate the duet parts - please keep it going..

[Frantz]

Ah, I clicked on the link and see Aika is a professional singer. I thought she was good.

But the song is entirely your own work ?

Whose idea was it to treble the vocals ? That's a great technique.

Yes, Aika was hired on Fiverr as a session vocalist.

The song is entirely my work. For Aika's solo section ("This cold kind of love"), I sent her the part with my vocals using Melodyne to fix the high notes that were out of my range. I asked her to copy the vocals and replaced mine with hers. Then I shifted her vox up a fifth in Melodyne and asked her to copy that part. I planned to sing the part an octave below but she anticipated that it needed a lower harmony and sent the part an octave below on her own. It sounded great so I left it as a solo section for her.

(I will resume regular Cafe participation in a few days when I am back from vacation.)

[ChamMusic]

Overall I really enjoyed this:

Catchy melodies supported by appropriate harmonies.

Clear, airy, spacious but also appropriately tight, punchy production.


A few things bugged me a little bit after a couple of listens...

1) The ending didn't work for me...just sort of flops away to nothing...have to admit I was expecting a slow fade out.

2) More variety in the drums might've added a little dynamic rise and fall?

3) The way your voice combines with the backing singer...

Your vocal is strong again, (this aspect has improved steadily over the years), but it isn't perfect in terms of intonation! On its own, this was not an issue to my ear at all, but it did jar a little when combined with the backing singer as her tuning is 100% spot on! Made me wince slightly a couple of times, but I know that I'm more picky about this than many with my background in orchestral performing / choral singing etc.

[Frantz]

Great job on this song! Good music and strong lyrics.

I was thinking about the title. I wonder if “ It happens all the time” would make a better title as it’s actually the hook for the listener as far as I can tell. Maybe changing it to “ It happens every time(?) might be catchier in that case or also use “It happens all the time”.

Now I’m thinking you could change the intro to the male and female voices repeating those two phrases with sort of a sexual enuendo to catch the listener’s attention.



Just thinkin’ Like a hack with the cigar.

Thanks Phil. Glad you enjoyed the music and lyrics.

I agree "It happens all the time" is the hook as it's repeated so often. I was listening to a Public Enemy compilation called "Greatest Misses" while writing this and it sparked the idea for the chorus. I find the title "Greatest Misses" mildly amusing and it sums up the relationship in question so I will keep that as the title.

I like the image of you chomping on a cigar, thinking of playing up the sexual innuendo to make it more commercial. I ought to hire you to remix this.

[aaron aardvark]

Frantz,
Thank you for reviewing my music! Now your song: as usual, everything instrumentally sounds very good. As usual, I like the tone of your male vocals, though they are a bit pitchy at times. The female vocals, once again, add a lot to the song. At times, when both the male and female vocals are singing, the male vocals remind me of David Bowie (a compliment, he's my favorite male singer). Keep at it my friend.

[Frantz]

solid electro-pop. catchy as usual.
yep, relationships - push-pull

Thanks for listening and commenting layzer.

[dellboy]

I dig! Backing track sounds like one of those synthwave tunes that's all over youtube. Cool vocals, too.

I am old and out of fashion but maybe I can ride a synthwave back into style? Glad you enjoyed it Moe.

Nah, you are in fashion, its the rest who are out of step