Rocketship / Black Hole
The first demo for the upcoming Uke Skywalker album, May The Four Strings Be With You, has been completed. I will shop this around to various music-minded friends for opinions on where to go with it. I purposefully didn't put a lot of effort into the performances, leaving them more as sketches, to prevent me from falling in love with the demo and becoming close-minded about suggestions.
One pair of songs got a good sense of what they'll be like because I prepared them for a live performance, those being "Rocketship" and "Black Hole." As far as the story is concerned, these songs come at the beginning of the album, but "Black Hole" is meant to reveal the mystery that Uke has been holding onto, so it belongs at the end of the album. Putting them together presented a problem in that I didn't tell the story of meeting Princess Lele until the end.
Enter a new song, called "When Worlds Collide." I had a few false starts in writing it, and realized it was never going to be good because it is literally a narrative beat, something to get from point A to point C, and I had no real investment in it as a song. Besides, I already had that beat in "Rocketship," so I decided to split them apart again. So there will be no recording of "When Worlds Collide" as a bonus track on the 30th anniversary edition, because it doesn't exist.
I still want the audience to know that these songs go together. I haven't decided yet how I will do it. I have three possibilities:
The final decision will come with the final recording and mixing, but I think it will be a combination of elements - probably signature sound and fade (something I kind of started on the demo, but did that more to just mask the fade out).
One pair of songs got a good sense of what they'll be like because I prepared them for a live performance, those being "Rocketship" and "Black Hole." As far as the story is concerned, these songs come at the beginning of the album, but "Black Hole" is meant to reveal the mystery that Uke has been holding onto, so it belongs at the end of the album. Putting them together presented a problem in that I didn't tell the story of meeting Princess Lele until the end.
Enter a new song, called "When Worlds Collide." I had a few false starts in writing it, and realized it was never going to be good because it is literally a narrative beat, something to get from point A to point C, and I had no real investment in it as a song. Besides, I already had that beat in "Rocketship," so I decided to split them apart again. So there will be no recording of "When Worlds Collide" as a bonus track on the 30th anniversary edition, because it doesn't exist.
I still want the audience to know that these songs go together. I haven't decided yet how I will do it. I have three possibilities:
- Fade out Rocketship, and have the same music fade in with Black Hole. This is what happens with the demo, because I took a live recording and just cut it in two for the demo. Seems to work, but may be too subtle for anyone not paying attention.
- An abrupt stop of Rocketship, and abrupt start of Black Hole. This should get the listener realizing something is up with these songs, but abruptness is a little unnerving. Plus an abrupt stop on Rocketship might imply Uke suddenly died or some such, making people think the rest of the album is a dream.
- Some signature sound that will tie the bits together. I would have this sound appear in Rocketship, The Bono-Chomsky Binary Star System, Black Hole, and Home Is A Place In The Sky. However, having it in four places does more than just tie two songs together.
The final decision will come with the final recording and mixing, but I think it will be a combination of elements - probably signature sound and fade (something I kind of started on the demo, but did that more to just mask the fade out).