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 #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 #2: When I Was Young

Here's a ditty I wrote back in high school (10+ years ago!) and finally got around to recording it! It's about  the time when you are a kid and anything is possible. It's heavily influenced by what I was listening to at the time: REM and Oasis. Please give your suggestions on what I can do to make this song better.