Backtrack is a series devoted to backtracking to tell short stories about songs I've written.

I wrote and recorded this song in 2006.

This song was a first in a lot of ways for me. I’ve been singing since I was little but this was one of my first attempts at singing on a track, as well as writing lyrics. Listening to this now, I’d love to redo this song with MUCH better vocals (which I’ll probably do at some point), maybe change up the lyrics a little bit as well. I also utilized some techniques I had never tried before, like adding vinyl sounds underneath to give it a little bit of an old feeling … in hindsight I’m not sure how successful it was at making it sound “old”, but I do like the vinyl sounds regardless!

There are a few influences for this track, including Radiohead (the vibe, harmonic decisions), Tortoise (tremolo guitar lines), and Wintersleep/Kary (some of the vocal chanting towards the end). I might have been listening to The Postal Service at the time too because I think it does feel a little reminiscent of a darker equivalent of that group at times. There’s also a hint of chip towards the back end, though this stays mostly outside of that realm.

I did this track in Garageband my first semester at music school, and recorded the vocals in my dorm room.

Backtrack is a series devoted to backtracking to tell short stories about songs I've written.

Back in 2007 I was hired by a mobile developer to write 16 one minute loops of general MIDI music for a puzzle game. Over a span of about three months I wrote the tracks, which are pretty much all over the map. The only commonality was direction from the client to make them somewhat dancy.

This particular track is probably one of the better ones of the bunch. Given the requirements, I took the opportunity to use my favorite tool at the time, Tabledit, (MIDI Guitar Tablature Editor Software) to create all of the music. This was one of the very first game-related projects I ever took on, and the experience helped at least somewhat in getting me interested in writing for games in general, even though the music was never actually used by the client, and I never really got to play the game while it was being developed. It may sound like a bit of a horror story but at the time I was happy enough to get paid to write music (and I try not to forget that!)

After years of dormancy, these tracks made their way onto a release called ⌾Limeade Grin.

Backtrack is a series devoted to backtracking to tell short stories about songs I've written.

I have an Aunt in New York who has a piano (she has since moved). When I visit I always make time for the ivories — playing piano is one of my favorite things to do. (I loved it so much, I ended up buying a piano in 2012) This relatively straightforward piece started with some simple piano voicing and evolved into a couple of overdubs … some of the overdubs could have been done live by a good player I’m sure, but I haven’t quite gotten the hang of hand independency. (still haven't!)

It was April of 2007 - I have a somewhat vague recollection of it raining and being at night. I got a hold of some storm sounds to hammer that home, and whipped up a GarageBand session (my tool of choice at the time) complete with Apple Loop drums which I’ve never had an opportunity to replace. This is a very straightforward tune, but for me there’s always been something about this kind of downward motion that I find appealing. There’s a piano ostinato that is established and eventually mimicked by a synth, and that’s really about it!

This has since been released as one half of the track ‘April Tidings’ off my B-Side album 'Noon Kids’.