In one of my past song journal entries my word of the day was amalgam and I threw in the word alchemy for good measure. During the lyric building process for this song my brain seemed to be still heavily steeped in the essence of these words. They were percolating through my thought streams. Much of the lyrical content contains imagery associated with this chemistry of the past and its mythic symbols. Our messy world provided additional ingredients that fell into the steaming crucible and began to round out this song into its final state.

There were four different songs that fed my creative spark and development process. They were the following:

Spoon: Wild
James McMurtry: Canola Fields
Fruit Bats: Waking Up in Los Angeles
Taylor Swift: Anti-Hero

Deep bow of gratitude to all these artists. My primary reference for the arrangement was Wild and it had the deepest structural influence on the song. The McMurtry song helped me hit on an idea for the chorus melody that seemed to stick with me and I liked his vocal delivery and cadence. The Fruit Bats was really not used at all but I loved the ohhhs in the chorus and wanted to find a way to emulate the laid back ease of them in my song. However, my particular song style, tempo and arrangement just never allowed an entry point. The Fruit Bats song did keep the juices flowing though so that is why it still receives honorable mention in this write-up.

Finally, the song by Taylor Swift: Anti-Hero did have a role in my song believe it or not. If you listen to one of the synths you will hear a gated pumping sound courtesy of an Auto Pan and a Phaser-Flanger Plug-in. I really should thank a Music Producer named Ill Factor for teaching me the sound design process here. He demonstrated the technique in a YouTube video. Pretty cool. As I have said before, I learn something new in every new song I build. It is always deeply enjoyable for me. I also appreciate you for leaning in and listening. I wish you all the very best.

Thank You