Song #33: Not Aloud

The sound of this one is inspired from the bands Low (particularly the song "Over the Ocean") and Red House Painters. I would definitely call it minimalist approach (or "slow-core," as it is often cited). The elements of this sound that I emulated: soft clean electric guitar strums, use of brushes and ride cymbal on the drums, whispery vocals with a second voice an octave higher, and a hypnotic repetitive beat and bass line.   



This is one of the slowest and longest songs I've done. With the drummer in my band leaving his set at my house recently, I had access to a drum set for the first time in a while. When I had my studio at Muse, I would usually use 7-10 mics to record a drum set. Since now I'm only using an MBox Mini, I can only record two tracks at a time so it was a bit of challenge to get a good sound with just an a mic overhead and one on the kick but I think it works for this song. I used the Ebow on the guitar to add more texture, which is becoming my trademark sound these days. It ended up being 8 different Ebow tracks! I also added a minimal piano line. Hopefully it's not too long. Thoughts?

Song #32: Based On A True Story

This song is influenced by the Radiohead album, "The Bends" and in particular, the songs "High and Dry" and "Bulletproof... I Wish I Was." My goal was to create the same type of atmosphere with the acoustic guitar strumming and a soft pick electric guitar part. I added a "flange" effect to the guitar to give is a washy sound.

Song #31: Night Sky

Another oldie written during high school. At the time, I was digging the mandolin sounds on R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion." It was kind of surprising to look back and think that a song with a mandolin was such a big radio hit in the era of grunge. As I set out to write it, I didn't have a mandolin so I tried to approximate that sound by playing my guitar with the capo on the 4th fret.


When it came time to record this, I was planning on having the mandolin (which I now have) replace the acoustic guitar (or at least play the main lead part) but it wasn't sounding right, so instead I had the mandolin play a simple part to supplement the two acoustic guitar tracks. I added one vocal track, two tamborines tracks, and a shaker and thought it felt like it was done. Does it need something else?

Song #30: Invisible

I wrote this song in 2003 while I was a missionary in New York City. I was volunteering weekly at the Bronx VA Hospital and I got to be friends with one of the patients. I showed up one week to find out he had passed away. I wrote this song shortly after on one of my days off on the church piano. It's about memories, death and the connection between this life and the next. The style of the piano line and melancholy lyrics are influenced from Ben Fold Five's "Brick" and the drum machine and strings sound are influenced by Coldplay's "Paradise."





This recording features four tracks of ebow guitar, a drum machine, tamborine, three tracks of synth strings, a glass jar hit with a spoon and three tracks of keyboards played at different octaves. This is one of my favorite songs so I took a lot of time to get the production right and I think it turned out great!

Song #29: You Only Live A Day

This one is another oldie written when I was around 15 years old. The feel I was going for was R.E.M. and I think I achieved that with the guitar part, which mimics Peter Buck's picking style. I used the keyboard for the drum sounds, which aren't great but I think they work. What do you think of the song?

Song #28: Friday Night

This is one of my first songs written back when I was about 14. It's about a time when I went to a school dance and the girl I went with ignored me the whole time (write what you know, right?). The chords kind of rip off the Alanis Morissette song "Head Over Feet." Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed by it cause it's kind of corny song but I felt like it should still be documented to capture some of early songwriting.



I decided to just keep the production sparse and just do an acoustic guitar and a single vocal.

Song #27: Descent Into Madness

Another old tune written back in high school. At the time, I was heavily into the band Sunny Day Real Estate. This song in particular is influenced by the sound and atmosphere of "Grendel." It's probably one of my darkest and heaviest tunes.



Without having at drum set handy, I used drum machines so it would put the genre at "Industrial Emo" (maybe?). I did all the guitars direct (no amplifier) then doctored them up after the fact. There are 4 tracks of Ebow guitar drones, which altogether make up the chords I am playing and sound something like an organ combined with feedback and strings. It's becoming a trick I've used in several recordings lately. I put distortion on the vocals and put the threshold on the compressors so low that they make a "static" sound during the parts where I am not singing. I played with these static moments by looping them in reverse and adding strange sounding effects to them. I think it gives a real sinister and creepy feel fitting for the song.