The Actual Music

It might seem counter-intuitive, but I'm gonna start with the last song on the project, because its by far the most significant to me.

On  January 12th, I was still in an awkward phase with my project, but this song is what helped me really hit my stride. Improvisation is something that has always scared me, because I always was just convinced I couldn't do it. how could I possibly just play something with no plan and have it sound good??? 

My dad and I had had several jam sessions before this (Guitar/Drums), but from the moment we pressed record on this one, something about the energy was different. I improvised a drum part inspired mostly by Pink Floyd, and my dad came up with a super cool chord progression on electric guitar, and after four minutes, we had an incredible template to build off of. The guitar and drums were already reminding me a lot of Pink Floyd, so I wanted to recreate the exhilarating feeling of a psychedelic rock guitar solo. I improvised a synth part, which takes up the latter 2/3 of the song, and after some tweaking, the result was a super spacey, dreamy, freewheeling solo that I was so unbelievably proud of. 

Stevie Wonder said it best: "Music is a world within itself, it's a language we all understand." I've been learning the language of music ever since that day in Albert's shop, but on January 12th 2025 after finishing that synth solo, I felt like I had spoken my own dialect of music for the first time. A truly transformative moment that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

The other day, my mentor Noam gave me some great advice: Musical inspiration is something that's only in the moment, not something that can be recreated. In other words, if I'm chilling in my room and I have a melody stuck in my head, I need to just drop whatever I'm doing and put that melody on a recording. On the way home from school, I couldn't get the LUCKI song Newer Me out of my head, specifically the sample used in the beat. In the hour before dinner, I opened Pro Tools not expecting much out of the session, but I ended up making what might be my proudest creation yet. 

I used a drum machine, but rather than coming up with a loop and copy/pasting, I recorded it all in one take similar to how I'd play a drumset. I really prefer this way of doing it, both because it naturally adds more variation and spontaneity to the rhythm section, and because it just feels more soulful. 

Reflecting on my writing process over the past few months, I feel like this song, Orange sun, and Freestyle were all created in a similar state of mind; as they're all defined by free form, spacey, semi-improvisational keyboard parts. This type of song is so special to me because it feels like the most transparent way you can write music. For all these keyboard parts, I had no idea what they would be when I hit record; I was just trusting my musical instinct. 

When you hear me improvise these parts, you're hearing my musical soul express itself in the most authentic way possible. There might be a few moments in these solos that stand out as dissonant, but every time I edit one of these, I can't shake the feeling that I'm lying to myself somehow.

For me, intros are the most important part of almost every album, and this one is inspired by my favorite intro of all time. Radiohead's Everything in its Right Place, the intro to Kid A, always stood out to me for how unique it is. The tricky 10/4 meter, clicky drums, soft bass, and eerie chord progression are always something I've wanted to recreate. When I started the song back in March I had a lot of fun making it, but there was definitely something missing. The chord progression and drums sounded great, but it didn't jump out at me the way an album intro should. 

On my last night in Utuado, Puerto Rico, I couldn't sleep. Even when I managed to clear my mind of racing thoughts, the jungle outside was just deafeningly loud. Beautiful, but still deafening. I had already decided to name the project Utuado on that day, so it was only a matter of time before I was like: Wait, I should just record the jungle sounds!! I stepped outside and recorded a few minutes of ambience on my phone, and I already knew in that moment what I'd use it for. 

This project's intro being essentially a sensory window into Utuado itself feels so right to me, and luckily, I already knew exactly what I wanted to intro to be! When I got back to the studio, I formed this intro into what it is now: beautiful nature noises that fade into a mellow, icy chord progression; both of which introduce this project in a mellow yet intriguing way.

I did the drums for this one all the way back in February, when I was completely obsessed with the album Mama's Gun by Erykah Badu. I recorded the drums along to the song Orange Moon, which I love because of how incredibly slow and patient it is. Whats funny is that after this recording, I didn't even open the file for over 2 months, because I was focused on exploring more beatmaking as opposed to live drums.

 When I re opened it in April however, I was able to finish it in just a few hours. This marked a turning point in the project, because I was now way more confident in both my ability to work fast, and my improvisation in general. I used to be wayy too perfectionistic when recording, and if there was a single moment I didn't like I would just scrap the entire thing. This song helped me feel better about just going with the flow, and being less picky about what I consider an acceptable recording.

In particular, I'm super proud of the flute on this song. Its subtle, but the way it comes in right as the drums pick up adds a ton to the song in my opinion.

There's not too much to say about this one, because I just recorded these drums out of the blue with no plan whatsoever. This was the first time I recorded drums to just a metronome, with no song or anything to go off of, and as a result they sound way more mellow. 

I love the clarinet-sounding bass part on this song in particular, because it follows a super satisfying rhythmic pattern that the whole song falls around.

In the end, it definitely sounds the most like Orange Sun than any of my other songs, which makes me think I was probably in a similar headspace when I made that song.