New song - New Life

Hey I’m back with a new song. I was writing a song for a few weeks, and it was nearly finished, and I ended up hating it, and scrapped it, I started listening to music to get back inspiration, and this just came out in a few days. I hope you guys like it, it’s summery and retro inspired. The song is personal to me, and I hope people can relate.
All feedback welcome to improve it, as well help influence more music to come,

Thanks, your last feedback was great!

https://soundcloud.com/jed-long/new-life

Jed

I can relate.

I kept waiting for that off balance rhythm to resolve into something steadier and you did not disappoint at around 2:00 when the percussion kicks in.

It would be cool to read the lyrics to this one.

Hey man,

cool stuff. Its giving me coldplay vibes. nice work!

When I was young, I was ‘adopted’ by a photographer.
And he is still a big influence on the way I work.

He shot a lot of photos, made contact prints and (with the wisdom of hindsight) delayed all self criticism untill he was out out the developing phase.
This is how I still work:
- I record/write 10 songs
- and when I finished them, I listen to what I’ve made

The whole stifling process of too much self criticism out of the way.

Like a painter stepping back. And overseeing his/her work. It’s a very important self respect. Don’t judge untill you have to.

You (if I may say so) introduce too much self criticism and too much doubt before it’s even finished.
If you look back at older photos, the ones that were not perfect are the most beautiful. Because Ella was dancing on the table or some such thing - the first time overlooked - gave a special appreciation to a photo. Why do you think your music is different to a photo? Or a painting?

I think you’re too harsh judging yourself.
Sorry if i give you the felling of belitteling you, because I don’t intend to.
My suggestion is: stop self whipping and free yourself.
Free yourself and free your creative powers.
Really! You’re good. Seriously good!
Kind regards, Gus

@LePlongeur   Hey man, appreciate it, I’m also a photographer haha so I think I’m harsh on all my work, no matter the medium, I think it’s because music and photos are so personally tailored that I always judge them harshly, only letting my favourite slip through. I’ll try to relax on criticism, but I’m glad you liked it.
Thanks, Jed.

Only listened for a few seconds to see if there was any singing - I'd love to listen more, but I don't see any lyrics posted.

Hi @JedLong , that sounds nice, very nice how the deformed / processed vocals blend in with the music and the atmosphere 

i have one small remark, i think the complete drop back to those high keys again on about the 1 minute and 15 seconds mark is a bit far back and repetitious, i think it would be nice if the track has more build from there (as you do later on in the song  ). I also think the sound of these high keys...that you also use as the start of the track, could perhaps have a bit more of a full and warmer sound, it sounds a bit thin to me (i mean: the sound you picked for this key part)

but... the track sounds good to me   


 

@M57 @Leonard Scaper thanks for listening, here are the lyrics, sorry for not posting sooner!

You’re wasting your own time,
I’ve got nothing else to lose,
I’m gonna leave it behind,
Start a new life,

Coz I I I I’ll be doing things my own way now (x2)

I’m closing the door,
I’ve got no more time to spare,
I’m going out in the world,
See what I find,

Coz I I I I’ll be doing things my own way now (x2)

Oh I, Oh I, Start a new life (x7)

Only listened for a few seconds to see if there was any singing - I'd love to listen more, but I don't see any lyrics posted.

This is a good tune @M57 ....you should have given it more of a chance.

Some things blossom in their own time. 

Nice job @JedLong !
There are plenty of people here who can give you advice. I'm just going to say I listened and liked! This indie-pop style is something I enjoy very much and I like what you are doing.    (.....maybe if you want we could follow each other on SC) -11

Hey @Bill from November Sound appreciate the comment, and glad you liked it, I’d be more than happy to follow each other on soundcloud, send me your tag, and just follow me on soundcloud and I’ll follow back.

Well, damn. I wrote a real long comment - then lost it because when I hit send - my internet connection was lost.

I'll have to summarize/try to remember what I wrote:

Tune is fine, and I hear a lot of things that are promising and make me want to be wowed, but..

lyrics are straight ahead - not much in the way of poetry - and three chord tunes bore me but I'm in the minority there. At least there is some alternate harmonic motion at points in the song to give it some interest.

Good ideas for the mix but execution made it hard for me to listen too many times.  Too much detuning and phasing/chorus on the synth gets my stomach churning too easily. Add the vocal so heavily bathed in delay and reverb and buried in the mix and it all detracts from the song.

Looped (essentially) keyboard part is OK, but sometimes I wish it changed up here and there - either rhythmically or texturally.  Speaking of loops, I know people can't afford, or can't be bothered, or don't know how to record a real drummer, but the drums are not working in this mix for me.  I wasn't expecting the jazzy ride thing though I have to admit I kind of like the idea. Problem is I just don't hear a real drummer playing what I'm hearing on the recording.  You can dial in the swing right, but articulations, fills, as good as they are - just don't fit.

Not that you should care, but I do hear a TON of potential. I understand that some things that I feel are over the top might be perfectly on top for others - Please consider that this is me wrestling with my own understanding of what constitutes a good balance of music, lyrics, melodic and harmonic interest, effects, etc. in a song.

Oh yeah, one last thing. The form is spot on.  I really like your sense of ebb and flow. Everything is in the right place and the length feels right.

@JedLong I liked the idea of beats dimmed, only to flare up occasionally. The fun thing is that once you get them, you don't really need them anymore to keep feeling them. The tune is simple and effective. The song was a bit of a surprise, but that is good. I liked it.

 @JedLong I like this song and came to that conclusion after about 20 or 30 seconds of listening to it     

I can relate to the hatred against ones creations, that has already been adressed and I agree with the other comments.

It's really hard to not judge your own work harshly but if you think about it, seems to me it would be difficult to be equally harsh towards someone elses creativitiy and that has to do with the objectivity mentioned in other comments. 

Sure, there are songs we skip past when we hear them, but the amount of time we spend listening before doing that differs and that has to do with expectations, mood and lots of stuff. Some songs need to be listened to a couple of times before you find them likeable, others we like at the first beat.   

How I try to approach this problem, is by listening to my new tunes until it feels that my ears are about to fall of and then decide if I still like them or not. The advantage of this is that you also will hear where the song is at its weakest, where it's strong - hence what could be improved. You will not have that if you throw it out at an instant. Wait a while first (most times a song sounds different the next one or two days). Then you gain something from every piece of music you make, no time wasted. But , we're all different and that's just how I see this. I keep my "bad creations" at least for a while so I can learn from my mistakes. It's hard to live by sometimes