✵ Deadlocked

2 weeks ago by @max

Liner Notes

https://studio273.bandcamp.com/track/deadlocked
Over 20 years of participating in February Album Writing Month (FAWM), I’ve developed a workflow that allows me to quickly create a decent recording of a freshly written song. My process always starts with guitar chords and humming a melody. Once a few words come to mind the songcrafting starts.
Despite all the digital possibilities out there, I prefer to keep things pure by using real instruments. I print the lyrics in large text, hang them above a camera, and play the song several times in a row. Usually, the fourth or fifth take is good enough. Thanks to FAWM, I’ve learned not to dwell too long on whether something is "perfect."

Next, I separate the one-take audio track from the video and load it into a mixing program. Most of the effects I use are already preset. Then I record additional vocal tracks and layer in more instruments like guitar, banjo, piano, and keyboard. Once the mix sounds decent, I sync it back with the video footage. Each year, I choose a different color theme for my two-tone videos.

If a song is recorded this way during FAWM, it’s done. After FAWM, I usually end up with three or four keepers, which I test live on stage. Songs often grow and evolve during live performances, but I never rerecord them. Around 90% of the songs I’ve written over the past 20 years were created during FAWM—simple and effective.

These days, I use ChatGPT to check my lyrics for grammar and spelling mistakes and to give suggestions. In the past, I relied on native-speaking FAWMers for this.
The audio mix I upload to Bandcamp is the same as the one in the videos. My style is defined by one-take, single-mic recordings with additional vocals and instruments.
#singersongwriter #acousticguitar #folkpunk

Lyrics

I’m not asking for perfection
just a way to move ahead
But it’s all slowing down
and we’re circling instead

Can’t we find a common ground
hope for a kinder way?
I’m trying to hold the pieces
but they’re slipping day by day

Everything feels deadlocked
no solution, no way out
Common sense is blocked
a status quo, big black cloud

Now every voice is hardened
no one bends, no one sways
The walls keep getting higher
and we're lost inside this maze

What happened to progression?
a path, once so clear, so bright
Now compromise is shattered
and we’re losing every fight

Everything feels deadlocked
no solution, no way out
Common sense is blocked
a status quo, big black cloud

The air is thick with silence
as they argue just to win
And the hope I used to carry
feels like it's wearing thin
And the hope I used to carry
feels like it's wearing thin
And the hope I used to carry
feels like it's wearing thin

Everything feels deadlocked
no solution, no way out
Common sense is blocked
a status quo, big black cloud

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© Max Vanremmerden / vanremmerdenmusic 2025.
fawm.org/@max

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