Really amazing choices. Glad you didn't listen to my kid and use an auto-tuner
I think the human voice is the most "connective tissue" we have in music - coming from someone who can't sing and only wants to play instrumental music
Thank you, yeah, I usually only use autotune for effect rather than to tune my voice, I think by using it to "correct" every nuance makes them sound lifeless, we are not perfect, we are imperfectly perfect haha so I think this adds to the emotion, when I am really in the zone for singing, my voice does all sorts of things that it "shouldn't" because I am feeling the emotion of what I am singing, and I find that much more interesting and "real" than making myself sound perfect.
I know it's kind of personal, but I'd like to know where you get your lyrical ideas from and how you turn them into a song. I'm guessing you might struggle with trying to capture a moment or idea (FRV based?) that separates itself from our shared musical cultural milieu that may not always be uplifting? That's how I feel sometimes. A tension. I love Black Sabbath - don't want to repeat the darkness - but what do I do?
Yeah I agree, I tend to write lyrics that are more covert than overt, the words I choose have specific meaning to me, that most others will never know or understand, but I think with the right choice the listener can get a sense of what I am meaning.
Most of the time I will start with the melody, then the title then I will write the lyrics, but it does vary, sometimes things just come to me straight away and I've written many songs over the years where I actually didn't know exactly what they were about until years later, some of them are almost prophetic. I also wrote poetry and have books full of them, so I when I am struggling to find the lyrics for something I'll open up the books and start with a phrase.
There is IMO a download happening, like I have said before, it's my very much simplified version of channeling, the ideas flow through me and my experience and emotion and energy colours it and shapes it.
I don't think there is anything wrong with darker lyrics, the world is a dark place, and to express that and get it out is cathartic, and plenty of people can resonate with that. That being said, I do all I can to not wallow or make songs that are hopeless, there's always a hint of hope or a lesson to be learned. And I think tension is great thing in music, it's balance, there can be no light in our world without shadow after all.
This particular track is about gratitude, the title is a play on words, two things that I am extremely grateful for, knight (Laura and her work and this forum, without which I don't honestly know where I would be) and nightshade plant, tobacco haha which helps me think and relax and again has helped me through this journey.