Below is a Behind the Scenes look into the writing of my song, The Road Narrows, and making the official music video. I hope you enjoy it 👍

First the links...

LISTEN on Wavlake --> https://www.wavlake.com/album/20449f99-7c66-47c2-bd28-506637f1d38c

WATCH on YouTube --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlFmc2HbXjo

MUSIC:

- I plucked the guitar strings halfway up the neck producing that rich tone. That sound set the vibe and inspired me.

- While playing my guitar one day and stumbling upon what became the main theme, I made a first recording of the main theme played several times in succession with variations throughout. A few minutes later I made a second recording but this time I was improvising completely - simply enjoying that tone and getting lost in the vibe.

- Initially I thought that nothing in the second recording was usable. I thought the theme section in the first recording had promise but it was so short and repetitive I felt I definitely needed to add to it or something. I tried adding a one-note droning synth sound in the background and it worked pretty well, I guess, but I wasn't sure.

- More than a year later I listened to the second recording again and I absolutely loved it - an eccentric solo of sorts with incredible depth of feeling. The second recording became the entire middle section of the song. I edited together the two recordings to create the final song.

- I again considered adding other instruments or doubling certain parts, but in the end I felt that the lone voice of the guitar does a great job of conveying the emotional vibe of the piece - longing, slight sadness and deep gratitude.

- I'm happy with the sound quality of the final mix - nice analog saturation, compression and reverb. It sounds full and clear but still retains the delicateness of the performance.

- I created the song's cover art using one of my original fractals.

- The original name of the piece was September Drizzle which was coined by my wife. She suggested that name after hearing the song for the first time - it was a cloudy, drizzly weekend morning and I started playing the song for her and then immediately left to take a shower. When I returned later she expressed how much she liked it and suggested the name September Drizzle, which I liked very much. That was the working title for quite a while.

- (((It sounds like this song could be used in a movie.)))

- LISTEN on Wavlake --> https://www.wavlake.com/album/20449f99-7c66-47c2-bd28-506637f1d38c

VIDEO:

- I was experimenting with a new AI image tool. You upload one of your own images and it will create other images that are similar to your original image but also very different. In the final video you can see what I mean - I ended up using my original fractal as well as four of the AI images. All the images feature a "road" or "path" or "hallway" that continues straight ahead going off into the distance.

- The final video is version 2. The first version was exactly the same but I replaced one of the AI images after my wife remarked that that image wasn't quite up to the quality of the others.

- WATCH on YouTube --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlFmc2HbXjo

THE FINAL NAME:

- The final name, The Road Narrows, came about very naturally. After finishing the final mix and the official music video, I knew the name September Drizzle was not it, so I named it "Untitled." I sent the video to my good friend and outstanding collage artist Paul Loughney to check out. When I connected with him a few days later, he told me that he liked it and he also conveyed how the song made him feel. He also explained that the first couple of times that he played the video he didn't actually watch the video part, he simply listened to the audio while he was busy doing various things in his studio. After hearing his reactions and feelings I shared my feelings about the song and the video from a zoomed out perspective - the feelings of longing, slight sadness and deep gratitude - as well as the deep feeling that as a person gets older, the number of potential avenues they can realistically explore decreases due to the dwindling time left in their life. I also expressed how the original name September Drizzle didn't seem to capture all these feelings and ideas very well. Paul immediately said that he had a good name for it - The Road Narrows. I was silent for several seconds as it dawned on me that this name was perfect. It subtly encapsulates the feelings of the music as well as simultaneously describing one of the main features of the fractal and other four images in the music video! That was it, that was the perfect name.

- Paul Loughney's website --> https://paulloughney.com/home.html

PLAYING IT FOR MY LOCAL SONGWRITING GROUP:

- The local songwriting group that I attend religiously every month is led by an amazing group of expert veteran songwriters. The focus of the group is lyric writing, but I was excited to play them this song even though it's an instrumental because it's the first song I ever released as a solo artist. They enjoyed it. But since the pacing of the song is so deliberate and slow, they all clapped in the middle when I let that one chord ring out for quite a while, because they thought it was over but it wasn't over. Oh well. And one attendee suggested I add more instruments and parts, etc. All in all it wasn't the correct group to present that song to, but they are my friends so it was fun.

If you read this far, I hope you found this post interesting, and I wish you a happy prosperous life 🙏🏻❤️