FAWM : "Afterglow"

Afterglow

Liner Notes

Super excited about this one. This is probably the closest I've come to the sound I have in my head for my music. This textured downtempo electronic accompaniment is what I've always imagined accompanying my fingerstyle guitar but with vocals and songwriting as the foundation and not just as atmospheric instrumental as you would typically find in that genre. I've never felt up to the production challenge but also never found the right production partner to achieve it. This is the closest demo yet to the sound I hear. A lot more sound design involved in this one, making my own loops and samples and doing lots of chopping and process to create new sounds. This is also the project that ate FAWM so I will probably keep production to a minimum going fwd unless the muse says otherwise. Female vocals are royalty free samples with some pitch modification as needed. Capo on the guitar is all they way on C# cause that's what my voice wanted for this one. #singer_songwriter #downtempo #capochallenge #fingerstyle, #acoustic_guitar, #electronic

Lyrics

Afterglow
(c) 2023 Words and Music by Bennett Grassano

Nostalgia is a friend that I used to know
We’d sip and reminisce about the
forlorn dead end places that we used to go

But the dreams of who we’d be
Soon fell like leaves fall from a tree
into this simple melody
that we are hearing

chorus
Oh miss limelight
Let me follow you down
into the afterglow

Unrequited was the one that I used to love
Times were wild and we were young
and there was no one we’d believe
could tell us no

But the lies we tell ourselves
Are but the winds that fills our sails
Who remains will tell the tales
Of being and becoming

repeat chorus

Loves like satellites
launch into the night
some will land and some
lost like distant light
love find a home tonight

We played the game
We did our part
We played our role
We called it art

But the tragic comedy
Becomes a crass commodity
What we called identity
Were copies of copies

oh sweet mystery light
oh keep shining bright
into the night
oh sweet limelight
let me follow you down
into the afterglow

Comments

@ambroise 2w

This one is complex. I can't really say if it's sad or happy. Maybe comforting ?
The music is warm and dreamy, light in both meanings : the opposite of dark and the opposite of heavy. We got robotic noises butterflying (is that a word in english ?) sounding like it comes from a statelite or an internet cloud, very aerial and playfull. And the fingerpicking like sparkles dancing above a campfire shiny and twirling. And on that a voice slow and intense that could come from a sad song but instead, I feel peace and cozyness in it.
And then I read the lyrics and get the feeling it speaks of the times lost and the regrets. Yet I don't thing its tells sorrows. I rather feel some sort of forgiveness to the universe, or could you say some getting-over-it.
I think your song is a cure for an existential angst. Way to go !

@stephenwordsmith 3w

Thought I'd check this one out too, since you mentioned it a case study.

Loved it from the jingly outro - reminds me of Doves, at their best. The melody is tremendous, infectious through both the savoury and sweet aspects. Lyrically, it sits in an interesting place for me. It's stargazing but without all the enchantment. It's looking at a glass which presents itself as 'half full' and acknowledging that, while this is true, it is equally half empty. I think the optimism wins out in the end, and the final verse delivers this like the Affirmative team's right of reply in a little debate happening in the soul.

Your lyrical deftness continues to impress me. There are few days in which I'd feel brave enough to take on comedy/commodity/identity, although doing so from the context of silence is making some big promises.

I think I also prefer your take on the subject to my own - yours is both more personal and more mystical, for want of a better word. Re-reading my own lyrics, it seems almost sociological in nature, despite the motifs of bees and pigeons. Really glad you directed my attention here.

@jrcc 4w

Yoo. Thanks for the feedback on the track, used to be an east bay resident as well! Must have seen you play somewhere at some point.

Seconded that the textures are really standing out and give this another level of intrigue. I wanna hear the stuff that’s hidden on the left and right in the chorus (sounds like brass and a female BGV?). Very catchy hook “let me follow you down” in particular scratches an itch for me. Unique sound that I can’t quite think of existing references for, a good sign

Afterglow

Liner Notes

Lyrics

Comments

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