It's here! After many months of playing music together, composing and writing, recording, and mixing, we are finally releasing our demo!
This is a proud moment for all of us. Our demo, Footprints in a Puddle, represents the culmination of our first year together as a band. Many long nights were spent trying to figure out just the right chord progressions, messing with drum rhythms, and reworking lyrics over and over.
The second song (and title track) of our demo, "Footprints in a Puddle," was the first to be written. We wanted to write a song that broke the usual conventions of rock music while maintaining a familiar feel. We first dove into this song after finding a slightly-confusing combination of chords and timing for the verse. The verse begins on what appears as two pickup measures before the lyrics settle the verse into a comfortable familiar structure, only to be finished by two more measures to complete the two-measure offset of the lyrics before the chorus transition begins.
The beginning of the song is quick and powerful, but two-thirds of the way through the song takes on a slower and softer tone. We've had a lot of fun playing with dynamic changes while composing this track. We wrote in a harmonious ending so we could play the song live, but the recorded version fades out to seem like the solemn melodies could go on forever and ever. The lyrics also follow the feel of the music, but I'll leave the interpretation of them to you.
The first track of our demo, "Empty Promises," was written after "Footprints," but it keeps more typical conventions of alternative rock music. Powerful chords and melodic guitar lines blast right off the bat before settling into muted power chords while the lyrics play. We wanted to make this song feel and sound powerful and energetic the entire way through, and I think we succeeded. James even came up with a sick solo over a halftime beat to end the song with, and it still gives me chills.
As we worked on these two songs, we had a lot of people helping and supporting us. We are ever thankful for our family and friends who supported us in any way. We also especially want to thank my friend Ben Webb for creating the beautiful cover art that captures the feel of "Footprints in a Puddle," as well as Ezra's family for letting us use their home and equipment for recording and mixing.
With busy schedules, this turned out to be a long project, but we all think it's well worth it. We hope you like our music and we look forward to sharing more with the world!
- Matias