◄2► boyfriend for the sky

by @burr Mod

Liner Notes

i'm blowing out the cobwebs by catching up on projects my overloaded 2024 self wasn't able to follow through on last 50/90 challenge.

🚨 weird alert 🚨

i had an ambitious idea to do a #CommentsFirst #Cassette #4Track #Feast so i posted not one but FOUR #Titular titles and let people go nuts.

then, once the prompts came in... i sort of saw a narrative emerge and decided to try a mini "concept EP" that tells a story, on top of the cassette and comment constraints. why? because i'm a glutton for punishment.

this ended up being very ambitious and, while fun, results were mixed. i don't think i'll try this combo of constraints again! 😅 i kinda had to "cheat" from time to time either pre-sequencing some parts in a DAW or playing VST instruments and then routing the audio to the deck, since i don't have (or even know how to play) some of the instruments i was prompted to use.

original comment prompts from last summer:

the tracks & instruments: T1 ► yamaha pss-480 "music workstation" T2 ► nyckelharpa VST / baritone uke T3 ► vocals / sound fx T4 ► tambourine

all the songs are: 1 ◄ https://write.fawm.org/songs/309129 2 ◉ THIS! 3 ► https://write.fawm.org/songs/309131 4 ► https://write.fawm.org/songs/309132

Lyrics

==== MOAR NOTES ==== this is SECOND in the series. in which we meet our narrator takes a work trip and is seated next to the mysterious artist he admires. they hit it off.

the original title i was given from titular was "boyfriend for the skies" but singular worked better. i happen to have a VST of a nyckelharpa which has "bowed" samples, so that's in the intros and choruses. the "clever rhyming structure" i chose (for the verses) has a name: ballade, which is ABABBCBC.

======== the flurry of failed alarms nearly made me miss my flight maps and apparatuses in my arms off to an archaeology site and there, seated to the right of my nearly empty seat was a woman’s whose work i know by sight and who i’ve always longed to meet

we find common ground as we fly who knows where we’ll land, you and i? catapulted like a ufo up high is this real, or am i a boyfriend for the sky?

art, and science, and unknown lore the enigmatic allure we share brushing our feet on the cabin floor breathing in recycled air we’re such an unworldly pair no missed connections i have nothing to declare except my ever-growing affections

we find common ground as we fly who knows where we’ll land, you and i? catapulted like a ufo up high is this real, or am i a boyfriend for the sky?

Comments

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When you have an arsenal of tricks and instruments, the playfulness can explode. Always amazing what people can do when making music. I have learned a few tricks but still have far to go.

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Great concept for a song - wonderful notes so we get where you're coming from. I love the chorus, and the fleetingness of an air flight romance (of sorts)

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@brisk

That title is fantastic; the lyrics are very impressive too. There's something wonderfully "right" about the story you tell; it captures something fundamental about how I work in those situations. The music (and this is just gushing so forgive me) also captures something I really like about american mid 90s... alty stuff. I'm thinking of the first Grandaddy album, and other stuff too that isnt' coming to mind. That's partly about the production, the bleepy, agreeable synths, and how your voice sounds (very good), and partly about the unapologetic storytelling nature, novelistic, not so much exposition, not taking the audience for fools. Love it.

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@nadine

This sounds pretty good for being so random! The lyrics haha !!

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That "almost real" bowed nickelharpa solo at the start is sooo interesting. The almost romance story is delightful.

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oh this is simply joyous - if this was a 7" I'd buy two, one to keep and one to play.

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I get a They Might Be Giants vibe, whom. I love. Really cool idea and I think how it ends is great. Wonderful lyrics.

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@sapient

I had a flight once where, as I was putting my bag up in the overhead locker, the pile of blankets in the window seat came to life and a voice said, "Do you speak Russian?". I said no. The blankets didn't speak or eat for the remainder of the 10 hour flight... I'm glad our protagonist had a nicer time of things. I love the cheery vibes and yeah, that title is just great 🤩

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@cts

This is such a high concept tune (I was overwhelmed just reading the liner notes, man 😀 ). I salute you for the creative endeavor and I love that Yamaha-480. That drum fill brings back sooo many memories. Chorus is making me wanna think about The Cure's song High (which I love so very much).

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@wynia

I thought I left a comment already but it seems to have disapparated… I love the 8-bit delight that this is, clever lyrics as well!

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Get a Eels meets The Magnetic Fields vibe, catchy little tune

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@aeye

Love the upbeat sound to this one. I was bobbin my head to this while listening to the story.

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@beacon

Very cool. I know nyckelharpa pretty well, and this is a little stretch, but the end result really works. Really upbeat and happy.

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This is a beauty, it reminds me of something but it escapes me! Just a pleasure to listen to! Glad to see my bowing appeared

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I am really liking how this concept album is developing. Great storytelling and the song is just catchy as heck.

[FAWM]