Welcome to the 3rd installment of Find Your Way's Secret Pages!
At this point, it's still my secret blog, though.
Though I'm making a point to not write anything I wouldn't want revealed,
it's a little sad no one has read these.
(Shouldn't I be upset no one is listening to the music???)

This time, the AIRHEART EP was planned from the time the SEVEN UP EP was made.
However, the tracklist was more like:

1) Mysterious Mountain arrange
2) She's in a temper!! arrange
3) Deaf to All but the Song arrange

The main song (MM) would be about flying and traveling, missing and loving
but I ended up scrapping it.
We can see how the EP ended up, haha.

Probably in October I fully realized that
I could never be a great arranger like the guys I look up to are...
I have to do it my own way...
And accept I might not ever be good at it.
So this time, I've dropped the high-gain settings in favor of a more
emo/twinkle/screamo/skramz-esque sound.
The songs this time are much better than anything before them!

The 1st song was started with the intention of just being a DTABTS loud rock arrange,
but I couldn't come up with a good verse/prechorus/anything
so I had to add in Night Bird.
The lyrics are all nonsense about not being able to understand sung lyrics.
Or misunderstanding what is being sung.
I feel a little weird when people take lyric transcriptions at face-value.
I experimented with the guitars not playing the "breakdown" chords, and instead
let the rhythm section carry the song during that part.
That bassline is really fun!
A song doesn't need to "sound" heavy, I think you just have to "feel" it.
This song and "goodnight, goodbye" were testing that idea.

She's in a temper!!! Kafka said he was interested in this.
I arranged everything from the first chorus onwards in a very short time,
then let it sit for a few months.
It was hard to come up with verses when I was still in that "post-hardcore" phase.
However, when I started thinking in terms of emo, and different guitar parts,
it was easy.
The lyrics were written after some self-reflection on the idea of anger's victims.
But perhaps my vocal delivery leaves something to be desired.
This is pretty close to "emo," though, I think!

The last song arranged, "goodnight, goodbye," started spur of the moment.
But I couldn't stop working on it until it was finished.
I started with the breakdown part: I heard the lead chords in my head
DA DA! DA DA! DA DA! DA DA! dun dun dun dun!
Then, I knew I wanted to do a part like this song,
and the lyrics about driving away and leaving came out
(the idea for screaming the truth, as well).
The subject for the lyrics is... well, maybe even I've been in love.
But she drove away from me that night.
Fitting for Desire Drive, right?
... sorry, that's all a lie.
Finally, at the end of the song, I knew I wanted an overdub like in
Thursday's "Understanding in a Car Crash" (coincidentally about driving?)
but it ended up being me basically lifting the melody... oh well.
To be perfectly honest, I'm pretty proud of this song.
I think the verse lyrics are kind of weak,
and the original source (especially in the intro parts) feels a little shoe-horned
and yet this is one hell of a song if I say so myself.

I want Find Your Way to sound more like this song!

I designed the album art with a certain illustration I saw on tumblr in mind.
When it comes to style, anyway.
I knew I wanted a character with an "air heart" on the cover, though.
I don't have much in the way of sketches/drafts this time, fortunately.


As for bonus audio, I have a download for the cover of Further Ahead of Warp's "White Snow"
that I did recently (download here), as well as a blooper from the skit.

Thanks to the usual suspects for their support,
real or imagined.

I wrote this post before C85, so I still have work to do!
But I wonder if I should set an earlier deadline on M3-Spring...
Or wait until Reitaisai 11?
I already have a new arrange written... and I like it!

Veto



Postscript: Here are some bands that I have been inspired by recently
(they are all emo/screamo bands (majority are small/indie))
in no particular order:
Ugly Cuts
Moose Blood
Nicknames
Marietta
Girl Scouts
Departures

Hopefully I can become a little like these bands, and others I've forgotten.