Flare

Download the song here: http://strangeland.bandcamp.com/track/flare

Brad wrote all the initial music for this one, so I'll let him discuss that. I'll just say that I loved the tune immediately when I heard it. I vaguely recall throwing out a challenge to write with quartal and quintal harmonies instead of the usual tertiary stuff. Brad stomped that challenge nicely. 


I wrote the first draft of the lyrics, which Brad also gracefully repaired so they flowed better. The lyrics were inspired by a short story be Kyle Deas called Flare. I first heard it on the Escape Pod sci-fi podcast. I've pasted the story below, along with a link to the podcast, if you want to listen to it. You'll also notice a number of NASA and other space audio samples. NASA has kindly made all their mission audio available and there's a ton on the Internet Archive. Some my recognize the very end of the song as Sputnik. 


What struck me most about the story was not just the tragedy portrayed, but the idea that the event was already in the past by the time our main character sees it. I've spent many hours staring into the night sky, awed by the universe. It hurts my brain even more to think that everything I see out in space is in the past. The deeper into space you look, the farther into the past you see. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it. It's reminder that we live for such a tiny sliver of time, and we can only live in the present - the even smaller fraction of time that keeps passing us by. So when it's all done, will you fade, or leave one last flare for someone to see. 

http://kyledeas.com/post/572577763/self-promotion

http://escapepod.org/2009/12/31/ep232-flash-special/
__________________________________
Flare.

I was the kind of boy who always stood evenly on my feet. She was the kind of girl who
nibbled on the ends of her pens; she’d have made a great smoker if she hadn’t been brought 
up so well. She was beautiful. We were sixteen. 
We got off to a clumsy start; this would prove, for me, to be a theme. But we adjusted 
quickly to this new thing, to this sudden mingling of our lives and activities. We kissed 
often, and happily, and in a variety of inappropriate but suitably dim places. We talked for 
hours; I can’t imagine what about but I remember being interested. And when we had
 problems we spoke of them in hushed voices and felt very mature, and we delighted in our
 troubles, and in ourselves.


When she told me she was going on the colony ship to Titan, I was devastated. 
“But what
about us?” I said, and in the silence she shifted uncomfortably. I felt sick.

“It’s a big opportunity for my dad,” she said. “You think I want to go? I don’t.”

“Then don’t,” I said. “Stay here, with me.”

“I can’t,” she said, and she was right.


We made plans, of course. I was only three years from legal age, and there was always work
in the colonies for engineers. She would get her teaching credential, and when I arrived we 
would marry and work until we had enough money for the return trip. The first year would 
be the hardest, really: during the journey, when she was on board the ship, it would be too 
expensive for us to talk.
 And it was hard. She sent the occasional postcard; they didn’t say much, but it was nice just
 to hear her voice. But I suffered keenly in her absence, and from her tone I knew she felt the
 same.
 

I fell into the habit of sneaking out at night. If there were no clouds, and the lights from the 
neighbors weren’t too bright, the ship was easy to find. Sometimes I would bring my
binoculars, fix them on that dot of light in the sky, think about her out in the darkness.
Where are you, I would whisper. Come here. I miss you.


I was one of the few, then, who actually saw the explosion. It was a late-autumn evening,
 unremarkable save for the chill in the breeze that spoke of winter’s approach. One moment 
the ship looked as it always did and then there was a pulse, so bright that hurt my eyes. I
 cried out and dropped the binoculars. I fumbled in the darkness, cursing, then found them 
and brought them back up to my face.
The ship was gone. I searched the sky, frantic, but there was nothing. I screamed and threw 
down the binoculars, turned and ran toward the house. I had to call someone, tell them what
 had happened. I had to help her. But a part of me knew that there was nothing anyone could
 do to help her. The explosion was already minutes past; it was only the flare that still 
existed for us to see. 


It took some time for the official explanation to emerge. A freak accident, they said, a
softball-sized bit of flotsam that hit the fuel tank just so. It didn’t much matter to me.
I don’t have to sneak out anymore. My parents think that letting me have the run of the
place will help the healing process. I don’t know about that.
 But still I leave the house at night and stand under the stars. I fix my eyes on the spot of 
darkness, where once there was a spot of light, and I whisper, come here. I miss you.

Where it comes from: "Root Canal In 3-Part Harmony" music

*From Brad:* This one started with the bass line in the chorus. I wanted a big ol' ugly, dissonant progression that sounded all washy and huge. I fleshed out the guitar chords and the vocal melody shortly after that. I sat back, listened to what I had in Sibelius (music notation software for the uninitiated) and thought "wow, that sounds excruciatingly painful!" It was then, in the infancy of having just a chorus, that the title hit me. I quickly added a second and third vocal part to live up to the "3-Part Harmony" bit. Verses came next. More dirty blues. Funny how the blues scale's been around forever, but we'll never stop figuring out new combinations and syncopations to keep it fun. If you've never heard "Dogman" by King's X, do yourself a favor and find it. You'll know what I mean. That was my starting point, and after some playing around, I had the bass. A simple vocal melody fit in the spaces of the bass line. In trying to put a beat to it, I wanted to hear something of a Danny Carey hi-hat groove that hinted at polymeter yet was firmly planted in 6/8. Cool, but something was still missing. I strummed the C# minor and C# diminished chords from the chorus, used it sparingly for the second half only, and we had a verse. For the bridge, I wanted to escape C# minor. To contrast the painful dissonance, I used an old theory trick I always liked, the deceptive cadence, which led from a G# chord to A major. Being a guitar hack, I relish the open chords. So much that I think I just about used all of them. Somehow I danced around a progression ending in C major, lulling the listener into a (false) sense of security just before abruptly taking a nudge back to C# minor. Plunging into the solo, I wrote Sean's opening lick with an aching bend, and told him to make his guitar sound like it was in agony for the rest. I especially like the "whine" and final "scream" at the end of it! One final note about the arrangement: it is the first Strange Land song to start with guitar and drums but no bass. Oh yeah, I stole the sliding bass entrance from Billy Gould. So really, put Faith No More, King's X, and Tool in a blender and you pretty much get this song.

Where It Comes From - Dr. Manhattan

First off, you can download Dr. Manhattan for free right here. Thanks to everybody who already has, we love hearing from you. Now, about the song...

Sean says:
Musically this song started way back in 2006. At the time I was looking to write more songs in one of my altered tunings. I was also very heavily influenced by Devin Townsend at the time, particularly his Ocean Machine and Accelerated Evolution albums. I want to create something like a flowing wall of sound that he's known for. I think it worked, the verses of the song are in 5/4 time but have that 6/8 'sea shanty' feel. A very circular, rolling vibe. I'm also pleased with the way each verse grows in intensity. When I wrote the intro, I set out to both incorporate two hand chordal tapping for both the bass and guitar parts, and I wanted to have something of a 'lead' bass part that utilized some notes many bass players might not know exist. I filmed the recording of these parts months ago, have a look:


The tuning, for you guitar geeks is (low to high) CGDGBE. So, 6th and 5th strings altered, everything else as usual. I also use this tuning for the previously recorded Strange Land songs Alone We Go and One Drop Of Water. One thing this tuning does is allow me to play widely spaced chord intervals without stretching a mile. It also creates one finger power chords (a la drop D tuning) on both the 6th-5th pair and the 5th-4th pair. The bass guitar is also tuned different for this song, with the low B of my 5 string bass brought up a half step to C.

Lyrically and thematically the song is based on the Dr. Manhattan character from Alan Moore's The Watchmen graphic novel. Brad had read it and loaned it to me. I found Dr. Manhattan to be a very interesting and complex character. As the only one in the book with 'actual' superhuman powers (extreme powers at that. He becomes omniscient and omnipresent and can manipulate reality. Essentially he becomes a god). He goes through an interesting transformation from trying to hold on to his humanity, to wondering if humanity is worth saving at all. Since then I've often wondered, if I have the powers of Dr. Manhattan or even Superman, would I still care about people? Would I still be one of them?

How about we play a little game? (win stuff!)

Greetings Strangers, 
Brad and I decided we wanted to give away some cool stuff, so we put together this web scavenger hunt for you.


SOLID (listen/free download here) is Brad’s best attempt to chronicle the historic events of February 11-March 10, 2011, which he witnessed firsthand. Sure, we could tell you what happened from our perspective, but we’d rather get you, the listener involved. 
 
Below are the lyrics to SOLID with annotation markings. We want you to find the best internet news article or youtube video to demonstrate the meaning behind the lyric. Email the URLs to us at info@strange-land.net. Once completed, we’ll re-post a special set of hyperlinked lyrics for those who weren’t there to dig deeper and draw their own conclusions. Help us tell the story! 
The contest will be open from Thursday April 19th through Thursday May 3rd. The hunt is open to our fans world wide. Either the first person to send all nine correct references, or the person with the most correct by May 3rd will be the winner. Since Strange Land enjoys it's coffee and tea as much as it's prog, here's what you can win: Your choice of an SL branded travel ceramic coffee mug or stainless steel travel tea mug.

Fight for her fame
Her glowing flame
Forward our drive
Salute her name 1


When the word came from the floor
We didn't know the bleeding we had in store 2
Boots were planted in the snow
Tyrants trembled at the crowd below


Alexandria sent fare
For us to dine on cardboard in the square 3 
Marble pillows, dreams of gall 4
On the nights when we could sleep at all
We could barely feel the cold
Arm in arm, singing anthems old 5
Though they tried to silence all
You could hear the beat in the chamber hall 6


But the fire brigade came anyway
Just to put their colors on display 7
In the people poured from miles away
A hundred thousand souls on parade 8


They barred the doors and told us to depart
And the watch was doubled in safeguard 9
Looked for trouble there, but none would start
How can you disarm a beating heart?

Where It Comes From: SOLID

Hey all, 
If you don't have our new track 'SOLID' yet, go get it now, for free. then come right back for a rundown of how this one came together. 


From Brad:

SOLID started as an idea Sean sketched out for guitar and bass, and survives entirely (with added parts) as the second half of the song. I instantly loved it, but it took me a while to wrap my head around all the flying melodies and meter changes (who thinks in 13/8 anyway?), but after a few restless nights of odd-meter nightmares, I added a drum part to frame the score for myself as much as the listener. I felt it needed a contrasting section to build up to this in much the same way the Fates Warning song "At Fates Hands" does. I wanted the earlier material to be loosely related to Sean's material, so I picked out some cadences and strummed up those chords in a more straightforward progression. Just to break up the 4/4 monotony, I decided to occasionally drop a bar of 3/4 in. Fun fact: we actually write down all our SL songs note-for-note in music notation software before it is ever played. Only drum fills and guitar solos get improvised.

Next SOLID needed a melody. I didn't want to build a song with verses and choruses because I wanted to keep harmonically connected to later material, which would mean going back and forth in a verse/chorus/verse/chorus would likely have a key change at every transition (ick). Instead we have a constantly evolving, ever-building accompaniment. So a melody came to me. It was simple and didn't require a great deal of range. I didn't know I was writing for my voice at the time, so I lucked out there. Since the first half of the song covers 3 keys, it felt like it stayed fresh. Only minor phrasing and rhythmic variations happen between D minor, Eb minor, and E major.

Lyrics for me almost always happen last. I felt the song sounded rather serious, so unlike "Under Watchful Eyes" I put the dark humor away for this one and wrote about a subject matter that was dear and deeply personal to me. Many of you listening will pick out references that may be lost on others, but sometimes that's the point, isn't it?

Apologies to W.T. Purdy.

From Sean:

As Brad mentioned, this started with an idea of mine. I had written out most of the guitar and bass parts in the second half of the song before I turned it over to Brad. I actually set out to write a song that was largely in 9/8. Most often I come up with odd meter guitar parts naturally, then count them later. In this case 9/8 was a meter I hadn't worked with so I set that as my starting point. The later meter changes are just what fell out of my hands when I wrote the parts. My original goal was to write a purely instrumental track for Strange Land. But, as often happens when collaborating, Brad latched on to a few ideas and developed then into the vocal session. I was resistant at first, but as I digested the melodies and lyrics I was sold on the idea. The quest for an instrumental lives for another day. 

SOLID is by far the most dense song I've mixed. We ended up with 50 total tracks! 40 audio tracks, 4 virtual instruments, and a handful of effects busses and sub-mixes. It was a lot to juggle, a lot of work to find a place for everything without losing track of the heart of the song. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I think this will be the first of many 'sandbox' songs. As a studio band, we're delving into territory we never could have considered as a live 3-piece band. As least not without a lot of extra gear. Hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed making it.