HOW TO MAKE AIR ITSELF - SOUL MUSIC

THE SONGS

SOUL MUSIC 

Soul Music is a track that’s been loitering around my brain for years. The initial idea was inspired by a wonderful line of David Berman, 'won’t soul music change, now our souls have turned strange’ (Silver Jews - We Are Real). I remember coming up with the initial refrain as long ago as 2012. Some listeners may recognise it, albeit in a different guise, from last year’s Present Perfect EP. I’m not sure this is the definitive version of the song (is there ever?) but it’s certainly closer to my original conception of it. I think of it as a kind of damaged ballad or a supernatural duet set to a waltz on ketamine.

It's the song likely to start the LP and I guess it serves as a good introduction to the sound world of the whole record. This is one of four tracks that I worked on with the very talented Vincenz Kokot (My Sister Grenadine). The basic textures and ambience you hear on the record came together quite early and effortlessly in his rehearsal space. I recall him running radio static and tones from a tiny casio through all manner of effects over my two note ‘riff’. Daniella Grimm (Earnest and Without You) later added some wonderful violin to the carpet of sounds - more on her amazing work later. The rest of the arrangement I owe to Dorian's patience, red wine and sleepless nights exploring the cheap but satisfying effects of garageband and maxed out amplifiers.

Lyrically it’s a song built on a kind of reflexive self-questioning people might be familiar with in a Mute Swimmer song - the limitations of language and the seeking of some kind of spiritual agency or emotional catharsis through music and I suppose, by implication, leaving that an open question within the song to which you are listening. Soul Music also introduces the idea of an unreliable or uncertain narrator that could be said to be a theme throughout the new record.

EVERY WEEK OVER THE COURSE OF THE CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN I'LL BE POSTING SOME THOUGHTS ON EACH SONG THAT FEATURES ON THE RECORD AND HOW IT WAS MADE.

IT WOULD BE MASSIVELY APPRECIATED IF YOU SHARED THIS SONG AND SUPPORTED THE CAMPAIGN TO TURN IT INTO A BEAUTIFUL 'REAL' THING OF THE WORLD (ie: a packaged LP/CD)