Sunday 24 February 2013

Wards of State

CD - “Quantum Nature”

This song is from the CD Quantum Nature and is one of only a couple tracks that does not have some aspect of science as its topic.

There are a lot of ideas in the song, but the basic story is about a city or local society that is approaching an unavoidable transition. The current paradigm has been eroding for some time and is about to collapse. Some of the citizens are aware, some are not. Some will embrace the change, some will not.



There is a lot you can say about this situation. Meaningful change in society rarely comes about by election. Revolution or invasion is frequently the greater force for significant change. Elections are simply an elixir that provides the sensation of freedom to the masses. However, this drama of selection is so narrowly constrained that it simply serves to perpetuate the eternal sameness that financial markets and political profiteers depend upon.

The graphic depicts an ancient place and a future place. What direction the societal transition mentioned in the song moves in is up to you. Is a return to a simpler, low footprint society better? Or is a futuristic technology-based structure the way to go?


I forget what writing process this song took. Many of my tunes are not straight-forward chord-based songs with verse chorus structures. However, this song seemed to emerge with that basic pattern intact. I think I was trying to work on being more disciplined musically. Trying to satisfy my goal of producing something original while remaining confined to a familiar format.

I do recall that I wanted to experiment with an 'orchestral stabbing' effect where a discrete marching rhythm is played on distorted guitar while a lattice of undistorted notes is played in the background in an independent pattern. The chorus (“Wards of State, state of wonder...”) is the result of this experiment.

I have mentioned before that vocals have always been a weakness. However, I was somewhat pleased by how this tune turned out. The vocals are almost passable here. For me, this is probably as good as it gets.

Desert mosque - http://www.dodear.com/wallpapers/index.php?content_id=19356
Future city - http://khongthe.com/wallpapers/abstract/city-207.jpg
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