Starting around April 2022, I started on a songwriting journey pushing myself to actually write lyrics and finish songs. I grew a lot in the last year as a songwriter and it felt really good. I didn't really finish recording these songs but that's different from writing. I KNOW what I want to change about a lot of these tracks and I will eventually get around to making those cuts, edits, re-dos, overdubs, yadda yadda and on it goes. Until then, please enjoy these unripe root vegetables covered in dirt.

Love,
Tyler
4/4/2023


Below are the updates I wrote to my devoted "beta listeners" throughout 2022 as I wrote and recorded these songs.


UPDATE 12/25/2022:
This was supposed to be the album I released in 2022 but now it’s a collection of unfinished songs, some of which, could one day be “finished”. A bunch of them still have nonsense lyrics or bad lyrics. Some are just too long and others should probably be scrapped altogether and re-recorded with a microphone instead of a banana. For now, these are my unfinished thoughts from 2022.

UPDATE 5/28/22:
The latest demo is "Renewal" and it is the one that sounds a bit like if the band Yes and the band Fleet Foxes did a collaboration and decided to write about spring finally coming after a long winter. Some of the lyrics will be changed but mostly they are where I want them. Specifically, in the chorus, the lyrics sung are:

Seeds will grow
to what it knows

but I will eventually change it to:

Seeds will grow
to what THEY know

I also repeat the word "seed" somewhere in one of the verses which I might move or remove.

Thanks,
Tyler


ORIGINAL POST FROM 4/29/22:

HERE ARE SONGS I'M ACTIVELY WRITING. EVERYTHING IS A STATIC MIX WITHOUT DYNAMIC/VOLUME AUTOMATION.

Keep in mind that arrangement, lyrics, instrumentation and mixing are all in-progress so in terms of feedback, I would like to know the following:
-Are you bored listening to any song? If you become bored, when?
-What is the general vibe you get from the song?
-What do you like about the songs?

Feedback I've already gotten and am considering:
-You need better drums! Get a real drummer...somehow.
-Try to include more tempo variation
-More DYNAMIC changes in volume and instrumentation throughout the song(s).
-More IMAGERY in the lyrics

I am on personal journey to find the joy in song-writing—from beginning to end. This album will be a mix of songs I've written in the last year as well as some I started a few years back.

For too long, I have languished among a heap of unfinished songs, so many of which started out with such euphoric explosivity only to end up unheard. The progression toward completion usually hits a metaphorical brick wall reinforced with three feet of solid steel when I get to the lyric-writing stage, so the songs tend to remain in their unlistenable state with nonsense syllables instead of real words.

I’ve always loved singing and wanted to embark on a collection of songs that are vocally driven. But in order to create such a collection, I would have to find a way to, with joy and confidence, produce lyrics that both express something and feel good to sing. Embarking on that process has so far been a success I can attribute only to deciding to do so. I have no tips for others hoping to do the same.

I hope to end up with a collection of "very good demos" that are emotional and energetic. My chosen tool for this is harmony-rich vocal performance, but I will do my best to construct interesting and "alive" guitar, bass, drums, and synthesizer parts, even though I am just one person without access to much equipment.