I’ve spent the last two weekends laying down tracks for about five new songs, hoping they would fit well with what I’ve already recorded for Speechless.
Instead of taking my time with these songs, I’m working as fast I can, throwing things up at random and running with the first idea I run across. I’m not sure I like the results.
When I listen to the entire “album”, it just doesn’t flow. The first songs I recorded all fit well together, but I could tell there were holes — there needed to be more songs between them to make them feel like part of something bigger. But the songs I’m using to fill those holes don’t seem to fit.
I’ve got one song with the working title “Stepwise” that’s very fascinating rhytmically and harmonically — and it sticks out like crazy. I’ve got a two-part song that uses the same chorus between them, and they go so far as to quote other songs on the album. And they don’t seem to mesh.
I even recorded two songs, one which sounds too much like “Laura Palmer’s Theme” from Twin Peaks and the other a Depeche Mode knock-off. It was obvious right away they weren’t right for this set.
So it looks like the method I employed with Imprint — writing only as many songs as I want to appear on the album — isn’t working for Speechless. I fear I’ll have to keep throwing things against the wall till something sticks.
Another idea to consider is that these quick recordings need further refinement. Perhaps they really do fit with the album. They just don’t sound like they do because they’re the wrong mixes.
I know one song actually puts me to sleep. And it’s my own song!
The lion’s share of the work, though, is out of the way. Now that I have bass parts and drum parts and quasi-guitar parts and keyboard parts, it’s a matter of editing from here on out.
If it turns out all the editing in the world won’t make the songs fit, I guess it’s back to the drawing board.