STATUS UPDATE! Where are we with the EP?

I visited Rome in the middle of March and ever since then I’ve had the most creative period in ages! I’ve come up with roughly 20 songs and the interesting thing is that majority of them are just super. I’ve introduced some of them to the producer and he’s been all blown away – and because I have always introduced him a song better than the previous one we had to sort things out: listen to them all and lock the track list.

There’s also a slight change in plans with the EP, but I won’t reveal anything about it yet. Currently we are working on 4 songs. India has been dropped out but it may see the daylight in the future. The first song of the four is the “Imprisoned” I wrote ages ago… just that its name’s been changed to “Incomplete”. It’s super. A little 80′s and 90′s and a little bit of 10′s. Love it and love the lyrics of it.

The second song we’re working on is a song that was inspired by Rome in many respects. In other words, it’s about being so happy you could die. It’s also heavily influenced by some 80′s stuff but of course fits nicely into the soundscapes of these days too. I’ve been slightly lost with the vocals of this one but I’m trying to get the melodies right in time because this is a song I do not want to drop out.

The third song is a song that’s called Oh These Days. It has a big chorus and a great story. I am going to have a tough time with the lyrics because I’ve got a perfect story in my head but I must get it written in the right words into a great song. The chorus sticks into your head and the hook’s just mind-blowingly catchy!

The fourth song is Shadows. It’s “the epic one”. I wrote it pretty easily, the words just flew from somewhere inside of me, they are pretty personal. The song starts quietly but grows into a big, big floating song and it consists of harps, electric pianos, heart breaking strings and big drums! Love, love, love this one.

The EP should be ready in June but as I said, there’s a SLIGHT change of plans with it. So… the EP, if there will be one soon, will not be released for a while. I could give you some audio sneak peeks sometimes… or maybe not!

So, how does this all sound like to you?

NEW SONGS FLOWING

This week I have written and recorded two new songs. They are arranged to the shape of electronic music, like electro pop, but they could easily be Spark songs with a little modifying. They are damn catchy and damn beautiful songs, and I’ve been writing lyrics for the other one of them that tells of not wanting to let go of someone. That song is the famous Imprisoned that I’ve mentioned about.

The other one, yet lacking lyrics, I wrote on Thursday night and polished the diamond a bit on Friday. It was a fast process but that’s what it is when you’ve done this thing for years. I had a clear vision of which direction I want the song to go. Now it has a roaring synth that drives the main melody onward, bells that chime like in heaven and harpsichord that’s just too beautiful to be true. Love the song myself, hope you do too. I guess I must form another band for these electronic songs.

It’s interesting where all these songs come from. My mind, of course, but I never remember how the song changed its shape from the first melody to the actual finished song. I always promise myself I’d document that time of making the song somehow, but I always forget to do that because I’m so in the song. That’s probably the most mystical thing in songwriting, and I guess the best in it too, because that time lapse makes the song YOUR song. The choices you make are none else’s than yours and none else could finish the song just the way you finish it. If the starting melody or chord progression would be given to ten songwriters that would finish the song, the result would be different in every case. That is just beyond amazing. Would be interesting to see this kind of experiment realized.

Can’t wait also that I have a song ready from the EP to promote online and let you listen to… Until!

CA-CA-CATCHY

To title a post like this could be pretty suicidal if the song itself would not be catchy. We aim for a February-March single release and I just can’t wait to get  it out there to you! The working title of this song’s still “India”.

Among all the harps and synths I managed to come up with a melody that a whole stadium can chant and it changed the course of the song a bit, it made it moodier. It’s interesting how one melody can change the course like that, it’s just a freaking melody! Now the song combines Indian atmosphere to ethnic rhythms, acoustic guitars to mind-blowing electric tremolo guitars and electronic music to pop/rock. This is an amazing song, so in love with it.

I also carried on with my new song that goes with a working title of “Imprisoned”. It’s the only song I’ve come up after starting to seriously work on India, which is pretty weird but I’ve just been so into India that I haven’t had time to focus on anything else haha. This new song became a little more Minor than it was meant to, could be because of this flu I caught.

So now, cold-caught, I can’t sing the demo vocals because my voice sounds horrible. A little setback, but just a little. Must take a little rest, and so I’ve done. I would love to get rid of this flu as soon as possible but nothing that I’ve tried hasn’t made it.

We’ll see soon again, hopefully sooner than before!

SOULFOOD

Yes.

You might wonder why did I post a picture of a hamburger on the blog.

That is simply because that very same hamburger was the best hamburger I have ever eaten and I ate it today. Awesome sauce, deliciously spiced fries, 190 g beef, salad and what else! Pure gold.

I’ve been working my ass off on my newest song. Last Saturday I was downtown writing new lyrics to it (which was total of 7 MS Word-pages) and more recently I’ve been composing new synths and created some drum beats and fills. For you it might seem like the song doesn’t move forward a bit, but that’s because I don’t seem to tell you enough about these processes and because you don’t get to hear the song every time it has leaped forward. If there’s anything you would like to know more concerning writing, recording and producing or anything else between heaven and earth, please write it in the comment box! It would be appreciated and would help me a lot on my way to become a true blogging master! Thank you in advance.

In the next blog post I will tell you of what do I become inspired.

WRITING LYRICS

This afternoon I decided to try a new way of writing lyrics. Why? Because my producer said it’s a great and inspirational way that makes the lyrics just come. I had lyrics already but I wanted to make them better and get new ideas and build a better story around the lyrics.

I went to the popular, well-known café bar Torni that is in the city center of Helsinki. I bought a drink and started to listen to my new song on repeat. At the same time, the sun was setting beautifully, dipping below the horizon. I soon got into a flow and got a full page of ideas and lines. When I was done with my drink I moved to a more bigger and crowded café, also in the city center, to write some more. After an hour or two I had three pages of text, full of ideas for a song thats working title is currently “India“.

Now I’m back home completing the verses and I’m pretty satisfied with the result of the day.

Sunset at Torni

Also I want to share with you guys an amazing song that I found this week and bought right away! A swedish folk duo First Aid Kit and their new song “Lion’s Roar” that was released in the beginning of December. I just love it. The chorus is the best in a long time, the guitars are great, the lyrics are captivating and the vocals… the vocals! Powerful and beautiful. Plus vocal harmonies. The song is quite close to being perfect. You can check the song’s music video – which is great too – from here.

I’ll keep you updated! Check the remix of A Lost Cause from the earlier entries if you haven’t yet! I like it, hopefully you like it too.

A LOST CAUSE (DOOMSDAY REMIX) – LISTEN NOW!

As I wrote in the earlier blog post, I decided to try my skills at remixing. I chose the title song from my 2011-single A Lost Cause and pimped it to a whole new level: it became electronic. This is my first attempt at remixing and with zero advice read guess this experiment is more like a new arrangement than remixing, but there it is and I’m pretty proud of it. It became bombastic. You can either love it or hate it, but was your feeling either one, please let me know. I’d appreciate gigantically.

You can listen to the original version of the song from the Bandpage tab on Spark’s official Facebook!

To keep you updated on the recordings of the forthcoming EP, I can say that everything’s going just as planned. Been working on vocals and tweaking sounds!

A LOST CAUSE (DOOMSDAY REMIX) COMING SOON

As a side project besides the forthcoming EP, I’ve been trying my skills in electronic music. I kind of accepted a challenge from a fan to produce an electronic remix of my song “A Lost Cause”, that was released last November on my single “A Lost Cause”. The two songs can be listened from the Bandpage tab of my Facebook site www.facebook.com/officialspark, for completely free and for as many times as you want!

A Lost Cause is an acoustic pop/rock song, very melodic, with lyrics written in an open letter kind of style. I started to write the song on 31st of July 2011 and during the following months it took shape towards the form it is today. The song is the more straightforward and upbeat one from the single – the other one is the more moody, folk-y and acoustic Flatlining. It can also be streamed from Facebook.

These songs do not represent the production quality of the forthcoming EP, that includes among others a peaceful summer song with a working title “India”. The EP, that is aimed to be released in summer, will be produced by one of the most perfectionist producers there are.

I will be releasing the A LOST CAUSE (DOOMSDAY REMIX) either tomorrow or on Thursday. The song sounds, as titled, like a doomsday soundtrack. Bombastic. It’s my first attempt on remixing any stuff, so beware and be nice. It probably isn’t even what professional remixers call a remix, but it sure is a new electronic version of the song. Without vocals. They’re replaced with emotion and bombasticness. Cheers!

HAPPENED SO FAR

We’ve been recording in two studios for over a month now, irregularly. First we have focused on a song called “India”, that is quickly taking shape as an amazingly bombastic summer hit song. It will be just stunning. I met with the producer earlier today and listened to what we’ve got with it so far and now I’m back in my home studio working on the song. Arranging is a hard work.

This release will be SUPER. With 2-4 songs that will make your head explode and with a tentative release date that might be revealed in a later post, there’s a lot to expect. If you haven’t yet hopped on the sleigh, do it now, because I will tell more about the recordings only in this blog.

Also coming! I’ve been working on an badass electronic version of A Lost Cause, the A-side of my latest release, a single called A Lost Cause. It sounds big and rough. You’ll hear it soon!

TOMORROW…

I have a meeting with the producer tomorrow and I will play the latest demo of “India” to him the first time. It will blow his mind.

I’m so pleased with the result of the demo, it must be the best sounding demo that I’ve ever made.

I’ll hopefully get to unveil more of the future of this band tomorrow…

Until,

NEW LOGO, BLOG MOVE, INDIA DEMO CLIP

Up there is the new Spark logo! Cool huh? It’s not final, though, as is nothing yet haha! Click to enlarge.

I moved the Spark blog to WordPress from Blogger due a great hint from a fan. WordPress has a lot more to offer than the previous host and I’ve been satisfied ever since I started, even there was a bit of learning and there still is a bit of getting used to working with this.

I promised to upload a clip of “India”, a demo of a song that’ll most probably be on the future EP. The song doesn’t actually take place in the Asian country or actually refer to it straight, even there’s a line “Baby take me to your India” in the chorus (don’t know will the line be in the final version, but it still exists in the demo). The song is a peaceful summer song that I hope will make it in time to compete of the title of “the Summer Song of 2012″. So, here is the (instrumental version of the) chorus!

India

So there you go guys! What do you think of it? This is the first demo of the song and it will most likely change a lot on the way to perfectness, but wanted to let you know what my songs sound these days and what you can expect! The whole future release will not be this kind of peaceful acoustic/electric pop rock, there will be quite a hard rock songs as well but in the perfect balance so that the change will not be that critical.

Please do comment the song and tell what you think of it, that would be more than appreciated! Welcome aboard for everyone who found this band just now… you’re the most welcome! All the best people, see ya!!