Key
from Candor
2023
Outside as a complete song concept was written during the first part of the pandemic, somewhere in mid-2020, but the original sketch for the piece began as early as 2016. it was one of those ideas that I did a minimal amount of work on, in this case, a simple piano part, then but it away to be forgotten about for a while.
In 2020, I pulled it out as I was assessing incomplete projects, and there were lyrics in my head to be written. I must have been having a bad day, because the lyrics were quite dark and depressing. I tried a few things, experimented with it as a drum & bass piece, lost inspiration and then back on the shelf it went again.
Then early in 2023, as I was again scouring my drives for projects for Candor, I did some more work on it. I retooled the lyrics to take away some of the darkness and so in this iteration, the choruses in the song become increasingly more hopeful, in spite of the verses still being a little ominous.
Essentially, the song turned out to be, as one friend put it, ‘a love song to humanity’. During and since the pandemic, many of us became genuinely ill; either physically, mentally or emotionally. Things seemed bleak and everything seemed terrible. But with a little determination and insight and the will to stick together with the people who support you, things can be overcome. And even though you may not be the same person you were again, you can move forward better and perhaps stronger.
The song was always called Outside, since the original work was done. But the duality and similarities of being confined in a pandemic lockdown as well as being confined in your mind because of the way you feel, the title became a central lyrical point of the piece. Stylistically, the song is inspired heavily by Depeche Mode, both in musicality and lyrical tone.
I advance-released Outside to my Bandcamp page in March 2023.
Outside
Key
This is a pre-album release.