Had a few things planned already before this year started.
Nothing much though (Liar liar). Alright, I might have had the beginning
of the year scheduled then. Started out already on New Years Day
by writing for an uptempo project, all dedicated to those 80's
pop tracks I grew up with. Not the rockier ones, that is,
but more in the funky, disco-ish style. I guess that was why
the whole project got the working title of "Funky".
Wrote a total of 30 tracks, 15 got to the final selections,
while 10 of those made it on the project.
Was inspired to do this one by fiddling with the pre-programmed
drumloops on the keyboard during the christmas holidays.
Simply found a fitting loop/sequence and wrote the lyrics around that.
I know it might sound more simple than it was, but, to be honest,
I don't really know how to explain it. I was just fooling around, I guess.
Anyway, a project it became, and it went pretty slow according to me.
Wrote those tracks in about three weeks.
Next up was one that seemed pretty logical, at least to me.
Since I had made an uptempo one, I was kinda missing the soft ballads.
What to do? The answer was simple. To write another thing, using the same formula,
although in a softer way, and naming the project (fittingly) "Slow".
Soft drums, strings, piano and those cool acoustic guitars.
I never played real guitars though. Just used the sounds on the keyboard.
Still turned out pretty decent.
So, having spent January and the beginning of February getting two projects done,
it was time to bring on the first "from the heart"-thing for that year.
Having gotten to know an a really dear friend from Hungary, it almost felt natural
to dedicate a thing to her. I guess it showed through the lyrics as well.
Working title was "Hungarian Angel", taken after a track title from said project.
In the end I decided to use her nickname instead. So a "Pixie" it became.
I think I might have written around 50 tracks for that one. Some went in the trash,
some went in the outtakes-folder and about 15 tracks ended up on the project.
Wish I could've written more, though. Someday there'll probably be a successor for that one.
Felt a little "unfinished" if you ask me. The style was a pure mishmash between uptempo,
ballads, acoustic, "plastic pop", rockier tunes, you name it. Of course, as always it seems,
it was the ballads that stayed in the lead. But, as said, there will be a successor.
If not with new stuff, so with some of the outtakes completed with a few new tracks.
We'll see.
Next up was another very dear project of mine. This time it was completely
and truly dedicated to a person I used to hate, because of the way he just left
and didn't care, but lately have been replacing those feelings with simply missing him.
I guess he'll never see it, but that project was written as a try to show that I was ready
to forgive and move on. The project we're talking about, and the person specifically,
is my father. Already in the earliest sketching stages I had already decided that
no matter what people would think and no matter how hard they'd try to change it,
the title would be "Daddy". In the end it only became an EP with a few tracks,
but they were probably the most emotional tracks I've written. Maybe it was the fact
that it was dedicated to dad, or simply because of the background it was written against.
Anyhow, I won't ever regret having it done.
After Daddy I felt like, with the momentum I had, it would be appropriate to bid farewell
of two dear projects that had come to mean much over the years. Simply cause it felt like
they would fit as trilogies. The first one up was the last part in the Songs for Jess-series.
Entitled "Moving On With Half A Heart Missing", it was written just like that. A try to get over
the things that couldn't be undone, and simply try to accept it and, yeah, move on.
Of course that'll never mean I will forget her. Where the first one had been a short thing,
written just a few days after her death, and the second a huge collection that never really
stopped growing, the third one was as small as it could be. A 5 track EP. Nothing more, nothing less.
A simple attempt at a last goodbye. Fact is that the last track was named just that.
The other one to be "closed" was what came to be known as the Fighter-trilogy.
Where the first one was "Fighter" and the second one was called "Angel", I thought about
naming the third one both "Soldier" as well as "Xena", before finally settling for "Hope".
Containing 20 tracks, it was the longest one in the whole trilogy. Wait, I'm telling lies,
it shared the 20 tracks-mark with "Angel". Anyway, a last blast it became, with,
pretty unreal for being me, uptempo on a tribute project, especially if you consider
it as "halfway to unplugged", as it actually was.
I had, believe it or not, planned vacation from songwriting for a week or two.
Other things came in the way, though. Got a question to write a song that would
set as background to a series of Little Monsters wishing Lady Gaga a happy birthday
.The project itself got cancelled, but still I managed (pretty easily) to pull together
another EP. The title was a combination of the first letters in her name.
What it was named? "SJAG". Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. Makes sense, huh?
Although the title was cheesy, and the lyrics even more so (except for the opening track),
I still have a dream of showing them to her. Just for fun and to see what she thinks.
Who knows, maybe one day...
Also, another EP took shape after that, I don't know why I wrote it actually.
I guess I was writing just for the sake of it. The lyrics were too good at the time
although now they seem kinda dull. EP was named Becca. Don't know why about that either.
I guess I had a fablesse for using names as titles at the time. To put it simple,
I guess it was one of those "in between"-projects. Maybe I'll understand later
what all the fuss was about.
During the easter/1st of May-holidays, the vacation finally took place.
Felt good to just take a small break from the writing bonanza.
Maybe it was the fact that I went home and kept myself busy with more
practical stuff that did it. Planned for a successor of "Summer Heart"
from 2010, but it never got around to much more than just planning.
Still did a re-run of the first trip in 2010 when I went back to school though.
Did write a triple on the way up. Had lots of titles to choose from so it became
three projects with ten tracks each. "Kid On The Run" was inspired by a small kitten
that had gone lost, and was never found. "Break Of Dawn" was inspired by me sitting up
one early morning being unable to go back to sleep and "On The Highway" was a pure
successor to the project "Travellin Man" from the year before. Small things like that.
Also a small EP named "Through The Storm" was born there and then. I guess I caught up
with the losses pretty fast when it all came around. Oh, and I almost forgot, I did write
my first project in Swedish for the year. Another soft pop-thing called "Ett Enda Litet Ord"
(A Single Small Word). So, yeah, I guess the production was back in full swing pretty fast.
I also wrote a few things that were sort of "half-completed". Still don't know what to do,
if they're going onto the "to do-list" of 2012 or going into the vaults. We'll see.
As for the summer, there isn't really much to write about. Had crazy days at work,
crazy days at home, so honestly (for once?) there wasn't really much time for writing.
Or maybe I didn't have the inspiration, or maybe I was on the limit to burnout from
the writing during the spring. Maybe I was just tired. Still did a few things for a friend
in the UK though. One thought I did fool around with, was to create another collection
of things I had done so far. Didn't became anything. I wrote a few demos and things like that,
but that was as far as it went. Also added some stuff to the growing list of "Funny Title Ideas".
Oh, but a Swedish EP entitled "En Sommarkväll I Juli" (A Summernight In July) and an English EP named
"Songs Written In A Summer Morning" was created. So I guess summer was a good season to write lyrics in, too.
But autumn came, school started and with that came those nights of songwriting again.
Most of them was labeled as demos and hidden in the vaults. I guess the first thing I did
came in October and it was a successor to "Unhappy Love" from 2005. The title was as simple
as explaining, being "Celebrity Crush". 12 tracks, dedicated to as many stars I'd more or less fallen for,
plus a demo from 2007, to wrap it all up. Of course the last track on that project was a hint to the
"Unhappy Love"-days, referring to the nightclub where it all started.
After that it was onto probably one of the hardest projects of the year.
Was writing in Swedish to commemorate my grandpa's 100th birthday.
Title was (and is) "100 År Från Nu" (100 Years From Now). Sadly it didn't turn out
the way I was hoping for, not at all. I got it done but that was about it.
Sorry grandpa, I let you down on that one.
But wait, I forgot mentioning the two things I did in September. First I had planned
to do some sort of speedpunk-project, but with the fiascos from 2009 and 2010,
this time the plan was to write in English. Highly influenced by the uptempo-tracks
from The Pretenders' first two albums, it was surely a blast. And they came out pretty good as well.
And also, in the meantime while waiting for the "Half An Hour" (as the project was named)-sessions to start,
I did another one, simply called "Fall". 10 tracks in 4 different styles (pop, rock, acoustic and country),
set me off pretty well on that one. Ended up with 12 tracks on the final collection.
That applied to "Half An Hour", as well as "Fall".
So, onto the final Big One for 2011 then. Titled "Follow Her Home" and described as
"A Songs For Jess in disguise", nothing could've fitted better than that by the way,
it was written with one eye in the past and one in the future. To be honest, I really tried
to make it sound less "Jess-ish" and more "me-ish". With the finished result in hand,
I can say I part succeeded, part failed on that. Could have been a little less Jess over it
if you ask me. Still proud, though. I wrote over 50 tracks for this one and somehow
got it down to 15 on the final thing.
As it crawled towards December, I realized there was a special moment packed in there as well.
My very first track (Ice On The River) would be celebrating 20 years and what fitted better
than to do a summary of my "career" as a writer? And that's the result you've been reading
on this blog up until now. I still have a surprise for you, but it'll take another few before
it'll be revealed. Stay patient.
So I guess this is where the story ends then.
Hope you'll keep on following me.
I have some very crazy ideas coming up next year,
all in the same "past looking"-spirit as this.
Thanks for reading.
/Kim
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