“The Less You Know” was written pretty fast (much like the theme of the song).  Lyrics came first.  Then I tried to find music that would fit.  like a driving bass line.  125bpm.

I was hanging out in NY a lot when I wrote “The Less You Know“.  That city certainly is about what this song covers.  Funny thing : this way of life where you essentially “use” other people for your personal experiences seems to be very much a male thing.  However, the person who inspired this song was actually a woman.

“The Less You Know” is about something in our modern world that is at the same time exciting and a bit frightening.  we know we live faster and faster, and that is exhilarating but we do lose touch as well.  I mean real human connections.  Now some people make it a lifestyle.  This is about fast pace superficial relationships and sex.  Where we don’t care to know much about the other.  so, the song too had to be fast.  I also wanted a big chorus that makes the listener feel good, while at the same time the lyrics go straight to the point about why you feel good (the less you know,  the better you feel).

“As Close as I’ll Get” one is simply about the old unrequited love.  I know it is cliche.  But the lyrics I wrote really helped me go through my stuff.

“As Close as I’ll Get” is one of my favorite songs.  It was a painful process, to be honest.  Because I had to face a serious sense of emptiness and pointlessness.  And it was exacerbated by the fact that at the time, I was falling for someone who let me in somewhat, but only showed me the light without letting me get really close to it.  I was hurting bad at the time.  I was listening to a lot of Joy Division at the time…  Go figure!

Let’s face it… Blend is about sex.  Or maybe making love, if that makes you feel better.  But it is about how liberating that stuff can be.  How it makes you forget everything that is going wrong in your life when that other person “blends” with you, and two bodies turn into one single “unit”, so to speak.  It makes you want to face your stuff (and bleed it out together) and then heal together.  The two verses show how it is a two-way street.  

Based on the subject matter of the song (check back next week for what I say about the meaning of the song), I thought electronica and more dance-sounding stuff was appropriate.  I didn’t want this to be too fast (this is definitely NOT about being furious), or too slow (because it is also NOT about being moody or heavy-hearted).  What I had in mind while putting this song together was more along the lines to remixes you hear more and more, while keeping my own personal touch.

On Engines of Envy, I had a bunch of lyrics to use.  They tend to come to me at the most inappropriate times.  But I write them down.  Old style.  With a pen.  Then, I tend to disappear in my studio, and let these lyrics speak to me.  Depending on the mood of the moment I will go for a driving groove and hard sounds or a slow beat and more “dreamy” sounds.  Generally, the melodies come first from the written words, as they create their own rhythm.  And the subject matter dictates the soundscape.  On rare occasions, it is the flip side.  I find a groove or a chords progression, and I let it go for a while.  Then, once I have the beginning of a structure, I look for lyrics that fit.

The first E.P., “engines of envy” is the first step of a process I have been going through.  I don’t think I am talking about something exceptional.  I think I lived something most people live sooner or later, which is that life suddenly gives you the impression that very soon you will need to take a sharp turn, and leave your “zone of comfort”.  And that is when you are lucky enough to get some form of a notice.  It can be a significant relation going bad, or any kind of tough luck, that will force to reassess everything you have (or you thought you had).

 For me, when that happened, the first reaction seemed to be to look around me, look at my world, and to start realizing that other people around me might have made better choices than me.  Or you get to meet someone who is inspiring.  Hence the envy part.  But then, you want to react, and do something about it.  That can be paralyzing at first, or energizing as well…  Hence the “engines” part.

 Inevitably, the songs in this short E.P. are about these observations, these desires to change, to seduce someone you admire, and these decisions to take a sharp turn.

The musical influences for, Engines of Envy, are a mixed bag of European stuff I have always loved, like Joy Division, Killing Joke, Sisters of Mercy, etc. and American music I have come to really lie, like the grunge bands, and of course, I am not going to hide it, Nine Inch Nails. The idea for me was to find a vehicle for my own emotions, and I needed something I sensed as powerful, yet melodic. This is not just about conveying anger. Sometimes, it is about weakness, or loneliness. So, I decided to mix the typical rock approach with heavy guitars, with electronica which allows me to use more varied sounds and create a “soundscape” that can be heavy, or ethereal, or reflects (at least in my mind) whichever emotion or idea is the main topic of the song.