The concept for LP2 (Long Play 2) was realised earlier this year after I had recorded enough new material to complete a full length album.
I've always been intrigued with space themed art, stars-capes and a sense of other incredible unreachable worlds. An overall image of how I wanted to present this new body of work began to take shape - to tie all the songs together with a common otherworldly theme. LP2 as a cohesive whole began to form aesthetically. LP2, however, is not a concept album - there is no larger story to be found here other than a reoccurring theme of 'other' worlds, alternate realities and differing states of mind.
I spent a large part of my teenage years lying on the floor of my room and listening to albums from start to finish through headphones. I believed that the artist's greater message could only be discovered if their music was absorbed in whole and not 'single' parts. These days, full length albums are rarely listened to in their entirety - only the devoted fans devour albums by their favourite artist's as a full course meal consumed in one sitting. LP2 is a 16 track long play recording - it's a smorgasbord of songs, diversity of styles and contrasting sound-scapes. In its entirety, it clocks in at approx 76 minutes. By today's standards, it is a long album so the FREE digital release has been culled back to 14 tracks - total time: approx 67 minutes.
A handful of the songs that debut on LP2 had been lying around since 2007/08 (
Download LP2 for free from my website - www.dks.net.au/music
What do the songs on LP2 mean and how did they come to be?
It could be misconstrued that all these songs are about me when in fact none of them are. As you listen, you will hear my musical influences come though. Try as I might, it’s hard not to show any influences in the music I make. Sometimes it’s a tribute to bands that have shaped my style with my own personal spin on the final sound with the end result, hopefully, being something unique.
CrossRoad. This song takes its name from the film "The Road" and the graphic novel "Crossed" (written by Garth Ennis published by Avatar Press) taking themes from both, informing the lyrics and tone of song.
Chasing Dragons. Was originally titled “Want It, Need It” and was going to be about the trappings of consumerism. It ended up being about drug. The new song title, Chasing Dragons, is taken from the slang reference to Opium Dens and their patrons being known to 'chase the dragon'. Some of the lyrical imagery was inspired by the graphic novel "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 1" written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Kevin O'neiil.
The New Division. Is an instrumental tribute to the bands Joy Division and New Order. The song’s title is an obvious mash-up of the two band’s names.
Optimystic I & II. Optimystic II is a reinterpretation of an instrumental song I originally came up with about 18 years ago. Optimystic II has been played once live at my August CD launch in 2008. Optimystic I is closer to the original instrumental version. It was always intended to be an instrumental song but when I developed graphics to promote each individual song and the visual theme of Optimystic presented itself to me, this informed the lyrics that I wrote for Melinda to perform on the song. Song informing art > informing lyrics > informing song.
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| Promotional image for Optimystic I |
Pulse. Ok, you got me here. This is the only song on the album that is about me and my state of mind at times. We all question our paths and choices and habits at times? It’s cathartic to get it out of one’s system – music making is my outlet.
The Space Station Mystery. This was originally an instrumental demoed as ‘Missed My Station’. The music was reminiscent of missing something, perhaps where you were supposed to get off in the journey of life or you took the wrong path at the fork in the road and you’ve gone too far to turn back?
Faces reflected in train windows, stories written in the lines of strangers faces, the blurred bodies of passengers waiting at the station as you pass them by, the Express Train speeding you past everything you should be focussing on. But, when I looked at writing the song’s lyrics with the word ‘Space’ added to ‘Station’, immediately the lyrics became more obvious to me. This song is my favourite on the album.
Stardust. My jamming buddy Darren Leigh and I used to throw this instrumental song around back in the early days (nearly 20 years ago now). It was played mostly on two acoustic guitars. I have recorded this song three times but this version recorded 2010/11 is the definitive version for me. It reaches new heights as it peaks in the middle section.
You Are A Winter Storm. Drenched in lo-fi minor distorted chords, this song is the sum of three distinctive parts. What I was going for here was a mood change reminiscent of the vocal theme. It’s a commentary on people I see that bull-doze their way through life, yet to achieve the zen-like balance that most of us take for granted.
Coming Down – Rise Up. LP2’s magnum opus or DKS’s self indulgent long song? You decide? This song had been jammed out by Darren and myself several times over the years. We even had the good fortune to play this with a drummer on a couple of occasions which is when I knew I realised the song’s potential. There’s a dash of Pink Floyd here, which was intentional as my friend Darren is a Floyd fan - I wanted to create something that would play to his sensibilities. The additional lead guitar work in the middle section was inspired in part by the All About Eve track “Outshine the Sun” from their album “Ultra Violet” on which Marty Willson-Piper (The Church) plays guitar.
11-11. This song was written and demoed in 2008. The version that appears on LP2 is the same recording from 2008 with the lead guitar re-recorded and the song structure slightly altered. I was going for a smoky-night-club-film-noir vibe with an impending sense of forces closing in…
Adrift. A simple instrumental that was omitted from the free digital release version as I felt the album was becoming too long. I like the change in pace of the two piano parts. It’s also a throw back to 80’s music which was not intentional at the time of recording. I’ll upload this song to Reverbnation and MySpace at a later date.
Calm Before The Carnival. This deconstructs one of the sections of You Are A Winter Storm and slows it down. The organ melody that enters the song midway through is reminiscent of carnival music, hence the title ‘Calm Before The Carnival.
Cobalt Heart. This is a reworking of the song ‘Blue Velvet Storm’ from my first album ‘August’. I stripped out the heavy distorted guitar work from the original, altered the bass line, added vocals, a heart-beat drum rhythm and intricate guitar parts to change the over all tone of the song. Due to the language in the chorus being easily misinterpreted, I decided to omit ‘Cobalt Heart’ on the free digital release version. Plus, I felt as this was ground I had already covered previously it didn’t need to be included on this release.
Tunnel. There’s always one song that proves to be the most challenging. In the case of finishing LP2, Tunnel was the song I laboured over the most even though it was very easy and quick to write in the first place. I wanted to keep the essence of how the demo version sounded but I wanted to improve the over all performance and polish of the song that was missing from the original rough demo.
I over-thought this song. I re-recorded it 3 times in it’s entirety including the vocal takes. I sped up the tempo. I added piano. I removed piano from the final mix, I reverted to the original tempo. I recorded the lead guitar numerous times with heavy distortion trying to get it to sound the way I could hear it in my mind. In the end, the acoustic lead guitar played in the first section that made the final cut, was recorded only days prior to the album’s release, 11 November 2011 . This song almost gets there for me. It is what I intended, just not how I intended it to be.
Now that you have a little insight into the making and meaning of LP2, what are your thoughts or favourites songs? I’d love to hear your comments – you can email me instead of posting your comments here - music@dks.net.au
Best wishes,
Damian J
LP2 Credits
All instruments – Damian K Sheiles – electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, keyboards.
All vocals – Damian K Sheiles and Melinda Kinnane.
Lyrics written – Damian K Sheiles.
Drum loops, percussion and sample arrangements – Damian K Sheiles.
Drum loops – Mick Fleetwood Total Drumming and various free loops sourced from the www.
Recorded using Adobe Audition 3.0 on Windows XP and 7, via Behringer Eurorack UB802 mixer, Behringer B-1 Condensor Microphone and JTS PDM-3 Microphone.
Recorded using Adobe Audition 3.0 on Windows XP and 7, via Behringer Eurorack UB802 mixer, Behringer B-1 Condensor Microphone and JTS PDM-3 Microphone.
Guitars – Modified Fender/Squier Custom Telecaster II, Squier Custom Telecaster II, Fender Jaguar. Yamaha 6 string acoustic, Yamaha 12 string acoustic.
Bass – Yamaha RBK 170
To find out more about the process behind LP2, please read my blog entry "The Anatomy of a Song - Chasing Dragons" http://damianksheiles.blogspot.com/2011/10/anatomy-of-song-chasing-dragons.html
