Very possibly the last interview this, what with Christmas coming up to steal my time away. Heres an interesting interview with a chap named Evin. He also has a website, here.
1. 50 songs – did you have a system for finishing?
I sure didn’t, and it shows. I finished [drumroll!] 4 songs in 90 days. Compare that to this year’s FAWM (February is Album Writing Month), where I wrote 14 in 28 days. It’s a tough pace to keep, and I just didn’t have the lifestyle stability during these months to even set it.
For the upcoming FAWM, and for the next 50/90, I’ll return to my winning formula: a song every two days. I have to practice in seclusion for three to four hours a day. Gold or garbage, songs will be born.
2. Which song did you consider your biggest success? Why was it successful?
Download The Bedlam Bash.
The structure, arrangement, and overall tone of it feel very synced with each other. It was the first time I’d truly embraced both low fidelity and that ‘first thought, best thought’ mantra. Having produced something so organic overnight was uniquely invigorating. And, more importantly, people seem to like it.
3. Music or lyrics?
Music first, invariably. Whether it be melody, meter or rhythm, the music always informs the lyric. Even if I have the ‘what’ of a lyric concept, I can’t approach the ‘how’ without guidance. It mystifies me to know that there are those for whom the opposite is true.
4. Are there any songwriting clichés, musical or lyrical, that you use too much?
I have a tendency to turn song titles into punchlines, and I always indulge the relative minor or major of whatever key I’m writing in. I use the element of fire too often. These are more patterns than clichés. If anything, it’s that I spend far more time thinking about the writing than actually doing it.
5. How have you developed as a songwriter through this challenge?
I don’t think a soul exists who isn’t somehow changed with every song he or she writes. Measuring how is the tough part, and it isn’t really up to me to evaluate my development but to demonstrate it. Maybe I’ve expanded my palette a bit. I’ve certainly learned a thing or two about my intentions and anxieties in the writing process – how easily I paralyze myself.
If there’s one thing I’ve embodied during this challenge, it’s this quote from Thelonious Monk:
“A genius is the one most like himself.”
Empowering words to someone who riffs the day away in his underwear.
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