FAWM: "◄4► my savage careful farewell"

◄4► my savage careful farewell

2025 by @burrMod

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 ► boss dr-660 drum machine T2 ► mircobrute synth bass T3 ► guitar / toy piano VST T4 ► vocals / clarinet VST

all the songs are: 1 ◄ https://write.fawm.org/songs/309129 2 ◄ https://write.fawm.org/songs/309130 3 ◄ https://write.fawm.org/songs/309131 4 ◉ THIS!

Lyrics

==== MOAR NOTES ==== this is FOURTH in the series. in which the narrator realizes the connection with his new friend and travel companion is fleeting.

for the "progressively booming reverb" i doubled the snare while mixing and put a reverb on that that gradually gets louder and with a longer tail over the course of the song. by the bridge/breakdown you can hear it echo til the end of the song in the left ear if you listen carefully. the goldfish thing was too hard to make sense, so the outro rhythm is an encoded message in morse code (this week's challenge) about goldfish. see if you can figure it out...

of the four, i think this is the weakest final result, tbh. i was pretty tired by the end. but there is still a lot of cool stuff in there!

======== i don’t even know where to start hope humming in my hesitating heart warmth wanes and words withheld is this where it all comes apart? this is what we expected this is a game of give and take a whole world erected just to wash away when we wake

was it all a dream? the wind picks up everything shifts (yeah) delusions dissolve and drift (away…)

feeling the feeling of being left behind losing something that was never mine love a life, then let it go they say that this is the grand design i shiver despite the heat the bone dry bedrock breaks up maybe i’ll be back on my feet tomorrow when i wake up

was it all a dream? was it all a dream? the wind picks up everything shifts (yeah) delusions dissolve and drift (away…)

Comments

@nancycunning 2025

Glutton is such a key word for me especially during FAWM. I like the idea of letting that inner glutton out and also recognizing maybe that one shouldn’t be driving the bus all the time. I was imagining that when the site closes down, this song could be blaring from the loudspeakers and then cold stop in the moddle of the word dissolve. There’s so much I can stick into this space. Grief and creativity but also product management and lifecycle.

@max 2025

Love the sound of this one.

@nadine 2025

I agree with @sapient this series sounds so consistent though the instrumentation is so different. I like the 80s rock feel here.

@atornberg 2025

I love the sound here, but I am also quite moved by the lyrics. It is heartbreaking because these feelings of hopelessness sometimes pervade my thoughts lately. In terms of production, the Tascam 4-track cassette recorder was so coveted in the early nineties but I only had the resources to rent it occasionally at the time with mixed results. Your work here in that medium is great! Combining new technology with old is fun! My daughter has proven that by investing in new vinyl and a nice Angel Horn record player to experience music that way. Thanks for the stroll into the past!

@phylo 2025

Wow, that was so strange and beautiful! There are so many delicious nerdy things going on in there. Good road music.

@ductapeguyMod 2025

Of all 4 songs, this one RAWKz hardest. The outro solo is fantastic. And toy piano morse code FTW.

@sapient 2025

Damn, i love how you can write 4 songs that are SO different and yes so utterly, distinctively YOU. I love the sound of those old Boss drum machines. I have a 550 lurking somewhere. I should dig it up and mangle it some... These 4 songs are such a trip. Well done not only for tackling the challenge, but for doing it with such gusto and getting 4 cracking songs from it! 😃

@wolveerie 2025

Dang those drums sound so good!! Whole vibe of this track rocks 💚 from the scratchy vox to the cutting bass synth and fuzzy guitars. Clarinet and bells at the end was a very nice touch 🎵🎶

@bethkille 2025

Love it! It’s so Depeche Mode. And the “clarinet” solo at the end is killer.

@wynia 2025

Um this chorus slaps! I would 100% add this immediately to one of my playlists to sing at the top of my lungs in the car. Love the instrumental breakdown too

@aeye 2025

This has a really interesting sound. It's kinda industrial, Grungy, with a New Wave feel to it. Way to work everything in on all of these songs.

@codeenergy 2025

Starting out very dance punkish but then the verses are more like goth electronica. Such a cool mash up of styles!!

@metalfoot 2025

Again, amazing way to tie off the storyline and satisfy the various odd comments. I really enjoyed this EP Burr! Two thumbs up and a big cheer to you!