not just a new release, but a double release, the second running backwards.

to my way of thinking this is artistically justified because of the subject matter – addiction. yes, i know, another happy tune from keefy. for those in the know, the path to kicking addiction can be plagued with setbacks, especially when your mind is convincing you that the happiest outcome would be to jump back in, so the more i listened to the reversed demo the more it made sense to include it as part of the package. besides, i’d grown to like the tune that way, having listened to it over and over again. call it a double a-side, or alternate version, call it anything you like, the deal is done.

the song dates back to 1992. yes, a 22-year-old song, but such is the nature of addiction that i realised even then that this is a day-by-day battle and that i would always remain an addict. recently i’ve found myself giving up again, so when the opportunity arose to do some recording this was an obvious choice.

this recording is the first project i’ve undertaken utilising all the techniques i learned from the producer uncovered course from start to finish. i think it shows. the rhythm came from a bit of thigh slapping and is expanded with a few beatbox grunts. the synth wash is repeated in the bass, though treated differently; one uses a sidechain on the compressor, the other uses a sidechain on the gate effect, producing opposing rhythms. apart from some judicial backwards guitar, the rest is a single acoustic guitar track, my vocal and a short trumpet section. i have to thank ramon sanchez for coming over and contributing his trumpet to the track. we play together in the cube orchestra, but it was great to have his input on my own material.

my penchant for self-produced videos to accompany my 2014 releases meant that i had another opportunity to try something out with this song. i’d noticed that if i stand at a certain distance from the shaving mirror in my bathroom (a pretty redundant item i must admit) the distorted plane meant i could see three eyes roaming across my face, a pretty weird sight. perfect! so i set it up in my bath, pointing at the only wall with an accent colour on it, set the camcorder running on a tripod and mimed to the song, moving about on my knees and squatting to get in the frame.

15 minutes later, two passes of the tune, i was done. i previewed the footage in final cut pro, but the third eye was nowhere to be seen. i tried again at all different distances, until i realised that the weird effect occurred because i have two eyes, while the camcorder has just the one. i was never going to record what i could see. that said, my 15 minutes of footage contained distortion and a good amount of out of focus blurring into focus shots and i really liked the look of it.

the end product requires staring at my face for seven minutes!

i may employ a model for my next video. i’m not sure i’m eye candy material, especially close up.

‘is my life my life? is my life!‘ on soundcloud
‘efilymsi‘ on soundcloud, available as a free download

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