Perpetual Emotion Machine / Key
from The Unforetold / Candor
2009 / 2023
Stop-Time was my attempt to do something that sounded like Oliver Lieb. I considered it unfinished when I put it on The Unforetold, but at the time I couldn’t figure out where else to go with it.
It begins with some found sounds of a mall which loop detectably. Bowed string sounds fade in and gradually a tech-trance vibe sets in. It all culminates in an epic chord progression with a choral pad that I just love. Where it ends, I intended to phase into another song with the same energy but instead it just fades out.
The feel of the song was to reflect feelings of anxiety I was feeling about how things were not as they once were — things were changing too fast. I was getting older. I wanted things back the way they were. This theme was later recaptured in a different way when I retooled the song for the as yet unfinished album, The Worry Box.
After the sudden death of my partner in 2014 I wrote many poems, and one was called If. At some point in 2014 I incorporated the poem into Stop / Time within the major chord progression, remixing it and adding additional elements at the end to accommodate the lyrics. I also added a vocal part where I am providing my own background vocals in three-part harmony. I re-titled it Threshold / If.
The new lyrical portion of the song was something I kept to myself until I was working on Candor, when I decided to re-record it as a ballad. I chose not to keep any of the trance elements of the song for the album, however, you can hear the original version buried in the mix, heavily filtered and reverbed.
Stop/Time
Perpetual Emotion Machine
The first version, from The Unforetold.
written, produced and arranged by Perpetual Emotion Machine. ©2010 Key.
Threshold/If
Perpetual Emotion Machine
This is a new version of the above, with an extended ending which includes lyrics to a new song called If. This version is remastered from the original 2015 recording.
written, produced and arranged by Perpetual Emotion Machine. ©2015 Key.
If
Key
The re-recorded version from Candor, in a ballad style.
written, produced and arranged by Key. ©2023 Key.