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I Resolve

from Singles 2010 by Matt roi Berger

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This week’s task was to try something completely new - stylistically and thematically; in process and output. I also wanted to try to place a song fully in my vocal range and still keep it dynamic. The weather, too, had some influence, having moved my emotions fully into the summer set, coaxing me to try my hand at a summer jam.

Listening to some middle period Talking Heads helped me land upon the notion of building a song around live band samples - something I’ve never tried before. I recorded a bassline and a scratch track of drums (which I never changed - maybe I should?) and looped and looped and looped it, playing lines on the guitar and keys, trying out vocal parts. I recorded them all on top of one another, sometimes muting a track, listening to the song without it, then splicing it back in and taking something else out. Remembering something from a book I read (fancy learning!), I tried to keep every recorded piece simple/hummable. I’m sure this is all very normal stuff for artists in certain genres, but it was new and sort of baffling to me - exciting too. What I came up with is this track - I described it to Melissa as “bastard Graceland.” I like it. It makes me wanna do this one move from the electric slide over and over again.

The biggest problem that presented itself was giving the song a proper “pop” build. With most tunes I write, I know what the structure is before I record and arrange all the pieces. In this case, I had the pieces before I knew the structure. The fact that the rhythm section never changes didn’t help - the whole thing had a stagnant, monotonous, feel. Slowly, though, things fell into place. I embraced the repetitive chug of the song, beginning the track by showcasing the stripped down basics. I think this helps by illustrating the build, rather than trying to immediately cover it up - what’s true is true about the song, and I’m not going to be able to hide that with tricks. From there, the song grows from stripped to stacked, and I quite like hearing the same pieces over again in different places with new accompaniment - especially the vocal melody.

That issue, plus noting some dissonance in places leads me to believe that this song may have benefited from a bit more time in the incubator. It always feels a bit of a gamble to toss this stuff out in a week’s time - truth is, I want them all to sound perfect. I want you to confuse this page for someone’s greatest hits. But I’m reminded in situations like this that I began this project to challenge myself and expand my capabilities. Sometimes that comes through success and sometimes it comes through some stumbling - I’m learning. In the end, I’ll have 52 demos and a good deal more experience than when I started, and that’s worth a few bruises along the way.

lyrics

Living low in living means
Never know the reasons why
Living low and in between
Never know but never hide
And Lord please not the grieving me
He always seek but never find
He never drink, he never breath
He never look you in the eye

Oh no, don’t save a place for me
For I will will settle till I die
Please keep me paths enough to seek
Please keep me reason nuff to try
Please keep my eyes awake to see
And I will see but what is nigh
And only live the in between
Not lives beyond or lives behind

Living all before I end
Never look where I begin
I Resolve
I’ll resolve

Living slow is life enough
But it don’t mean you never die
And I have seen the stars above
But not so like the one beside
And she is diamonds in the rough
But not so rough where diamonds lie
And she is smiling - it’s enough
Cause she got diamonds in her eye

And I may take a different road
And I may take a little time
But I won’t rest my weary bones
Til I may rest them at your side
Cause we got miles in our shoes
And lands we’ve left alone to climb
But never lost, I’ll know to choose
The way stars brighter than the sky’s

Living all before I end
Never look where I begin
I Resolve
I’ll resolve

credits

from Singles 2010, released December 31, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Mattroi

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Matt roi Berger Brooklyn, New York

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