My first two demos were released today! These act as a test for my SoundCloud, a test for my website, and of course a proof of concept for my music. I recorded these two tracks (Wormwood and The Adversary) across January and February, with vocals only included on the former. There are also temporary MIDI bass parts because my bass was out of action during the recording process, but I have since had this issue resolved and have begun to record proper bass tracks for a fresh set of demos.
First is Wormwood, a track based on a 5/8 guitar piece I’ve been sitting on for a couple of years. It’s a melancholic ballad-type track inspired by self-doubt, absinthe, and 19th-century bohemianism that I’ve written and re-written several times before landing on this final version over the course of the new year. The vocals in this track are notably shoddy – recorded rather quickly in my flat with my SM-58 – just to give an idea of my lyrical and vocal style before I lay them down properly in the studio.
The other song included is an instrumental demo for The Adversary, a translation of the Hebrew phrase ‘Ha-Satan’, from which Satan’s name is obviously derived. The Adversary explores the biblical tale of Lucifer’s fall from grace, and if he was really the bad guy by rebelling against God. Or at least it will when I record vocals. Musically, the song is not in a simple minor key but more specifically it is based on the Romanian Minor scale (hence the song’s working title Romania), which has a raised 4th and 6th note. Keeping in the song’s spirit of rebellion and disorder, however, I quite regularly dip in and out of the scale whenever it sounds better to do either, and I switch between the time signatures of 4/4 and 6/8 to reinforce this.
Expect more fleshed-out versions of these tracks and more very soon!
– Joe