Original Song Breakdown: Crawl

Another review of one of my songs. This is a song that I made for one day EP project that turned out pretty successfully  if you ask me. Although it's the first listed, it was the second to be written. Ultimately I'm going to do a breakdown of each of the songs, but since this one was ultimately first, I figured it'd make the most sense to go in EP order.
The song came out of the need to do something that was a little bit funner than the second track. I sat down at my loop machine and wanted to do something that I could just groove to a little. I largely improvised the lyrics, though the root idea for the song, and EP in general was being able to escape the pressures of time. As this groove had a sort of menacing quality, it felt somehow satisfying to sing as a personification as time.
Maybe that was a little too pretentious to do, but I like it, and think it made for some pretty solid lyrics that also can apply to other topics of situation. After that first verse, however, I wanted to stay in that mood for a while but give the vocals a break. Too much vox gets a little old quick. I put a little distortion on the guitar, and started jamming a bit. I ended up referencing Gotye's "Somebody that I used to know" mostly because it was fun, and it was the same melody applied in a very different setting that gave it a very different life.
I always like when artist's reference other music, without flat out stealing, of course. I wish in retrospect that I hadn't done that, however. The song wasn't then the behemoth of a song it is now, and I didn't expect it to be quite so annoying. The radio still plays it regularly, it's absurd. But it was nice to take a song that was about time, and put it within a particular temporal context. Anyway, that's why I did that. Not a bad idea, maybe just not executed in the best way.
I added some layered guitar and vox in the back just for some texture, stripped it back for pacing, then came in full at the end. I layered all the instruments, and a strumming guitar that reminded my friend pretty heavily of Nirvana, but it didn't quite feel complete. At the time, I was listening to a lot of Bomb The Music Industry. One of my favorite songs by them is "Getting Warmer," and I borrowed a technique from them. In the end section there, the instruments are overbearing, but there's this distorted vocal line in the background that adds a really nice texture, and is really nice when the instruments get quieter and the vocal line becomes more clear. Using it was a success, and turned out quite nicely at the end.
The song is very simple, and one that I think is a lot of fun. It sounds very different from my other stuff, so looking back on it, I'm quite fond. I wish I was a better producer, though. It would probably be a lot better if it wasn't so thin. Anyway, maybe one day I'll get a band and flesh it out, and then pay to get it recorded nicely.
Until then, I hope you enjoy this! Let me know what you think (Oh, and like me on facebook).