The album Inwardly is mainly a continuation of my previous album Engines. Musically, I think Engines already had the blend of guitars and electronica that Slowmatch is.  But I think Inwardly is a big step forward in really capturing what I had in my mind from the beginning.  “Illusions” is probably the connector.  Frankly, the lyrics still are clearly about envy…  Lust.  But the character is definitely alone in his head (even though there is someone else right there).  The lyrics of the chorus show how much he has no clue what is truly happening to him.  Musically, as I wrote before, electronica plays a more important role than before.  To me, that song really shows what has happened since Engines.

The main idea behind the album is really a continuation of Engines.  When I wrote the songs, in this case, the lyrics almost always came first.  I wrote a lot about this major turn that happened in my life.  Once you decide to leave things behind, there is first the exhilaration, the attraction to new exciting things, and of course new exciting people.  That is the fuel (the engine) of change, and that was what Engines was about.  But then, I realized that I went through a different phase.  I guess you start to wonder: what exactly is it that I am doing?  With all these turns you didn’t plan for, you start to feel like you may not have a sense of direction, and that nobody is there to help.  It is some sort of self-analysis, maybe…  I am not sure.  But it is something you do alone, you know, figuring your shit out.  Hence the title “Inwardly”.  Not all the songs really hammer on that idea, but quite a few deal with the very personal thoughts of the character that is in the song, whether it is actually me, or a fictional character.  The head space I was in for Inwardly is a bit more scary than for Engines.  This album is about looking at yourself, without taking it easy on yourself.  What you see is not always pretty…  Because there cannot be anyone else in the space you are in at that time, the images that we developed for this album had to convey a sense of loneliness.  Blue and white colors became the obvious choice.

As far as the music influences go, I am not sure there is anything new on Inwardly, compared to Engines.  The same bands continue to influence me.  But it feels like I am continuing to zero in on something different.  I guess one thing I have done certainly is dive in the world of electronica more.  I have always been drawn to synth-driven music (Does anyone remember Fad Gadget?  That guy was so ahead of his time).  But growing up, I was mainly a guitarist.  So, my focus was on guitar-driven music.  If I have made any progress in terms of composition and arrangement, it would be in integrating electronica better in what is otherwise rock songs.  In my mind, a song like “Without a Word” is a rocker, with a big (at least, I hope so) heavy chorus, but the “solo” is that faster part, which has key electronica elements.

Envy… Obsession…  Can one turn into the other sometimes?  I think so.  It is part of the process, when things don’t go the right way, and some needs are not addressed, obsession is never too far at that point.  It is a scary aspect of this, which goes hand in hand with the theme of No Reason.  When “time no longer matters” (maybe because you are constantly obsessing), you find yourself “sitting there” without any sense or need to move. You can become… like… petrified.  That scares me.

The funny thing is that the music to “Obsession” was actually not written for Slowmatch initially.  I was writing tunes with a female lyrics writer at the time, and she wrote a pretty gut-wrenching poem that we were going to put into music.  She eventually became too busy with a relationship, and I was left with some arrangements I actually felt were more than okay for Slowmatch!  I had the lyrics for “Obsession“.  They fit in. End of story.

The title, “Obsession” of course says it all.  But it something I seem to do very well.  Obsessing, that is…  As I was going through change at the time, obsessing about a new sense of direction and purpose was definitely a daily occurrence.  Again, I believe that what seems to be weakness (or a defect even) can be turned into something positive.  I dug in and create this song.  Expressing all of this was very helpful.  I hope other people will listen to this song with that in mind.  It also fits the “engines of envy” theme.

Much like the song “no reason”, “Obsession” is the beginning of developing a clearer idea of what Slowmatch is about. musically.  blending rock and electronica.

Music came first for “No Reason“.  This is one the first Slowmatch tunes, where I consciously decided to mush together rock and electronica.  I felt I was onto something.

“No Reason” is more about how you feel right after someone left you.  Empty.  No sense of purpose.  everything seems to have lost its taste.  Every day seems equally empty.

“No Reason” is more of a straight rocker  (in my mind at least).  Guitars are more prevalent.  This represents the gap I see in the music today.  You are either rock (with guitars) or electronica (without guitars).  What about both?  I happen to really enjoy that blending of genres.