FAWM: "Tune that Haunts Me"

Tune that Haunts Me

Liner Notes

This song emerged from two melody snippets in my ideas folder from 2024, plus a little acoustic guitar picking thing from 2020 which I perhaps wrongly believed would fit the obvious power-pop stylings of the first two.

I really like the tune, but the demo is a mess. I was changing the chords around constantly while recording, so it's done in amp sims instead of recorded live, as is my general preference these days. You can especially hear it in the second half of each chorus when I've used the wrong pickup in one of speakers, completely altering the tone, haha. The synth I've used to fill out the mix is cheesy AF, just a placeholder.

The vocal was quickly mixed, as I picked up a work shift today and ran out of time to do more. This is FAWM, gotta keep moving! The harmony was especially painful, so I tuned it hard and switched to using a voice replacement (as in it's my composition/performance, converted into another vocal. I particularly like this voice, listed as 'Fiona' in the software, because she sounds very similar to an old friend of mine I used to record with, it's uncanny). I think too I messed up a note in the harmony somewhere.

The mid section is meant to be more of a hypnotic, strange, delay/echo guitar part. The synth there gives the basic tune/chords vibe, but it's just a placeholder. It would have taken ages to get it right, and then I'd only have to do it again properly one day - just a demo!

I've also got to find a way to get vocals to sit better without compressing the daylights out of them. Maybe spend more than 10 minutes mixing them, haha. I know.

100 points to anyone who recognises what old game I borrowed the chorus refrain from 🙃

Gear used:

Drums: Kontakt Beau Burchell Bass: Kontakt Prime Bass via Guitar Rig 7 Guitars: Danelectro '59 through Big Muff Pi, Paradise Guitar Studio Synths: UAD Minimoog, Odyssey, Jup-8 Vocals: Shure Beta 58a mic, Omni Channel 2, 3A

Get my finished proper stuff: koshrecords.net

Lyrics

i've got a tune that haunts me nightly a melody that finds me but i just wanna sleep

and there's a spark that burns so brightly a harmony inside me but i just wanna go to sleep

stay a while, why don't you stay a while? why don't you staaaay a while? stay a while, why don't you stay a while? why don't you staaaay forever?

i've got a tune that haunts me nightly a nagging voice inside me why won't it ever shut up?

and there's a spark that burns so brightly a harmony inside of me but i just wanna go to sleep to sleep

stay a while, why don't you stay a while? why don't you staaaay a while?

i've got a tune that haunts me nightly a melody that finds me but i just wanna sleep

Comments

@mattwdunn 4h

I love that synth melody after the prechorus. Love the female vocal (I know it’s you) mixed in there. Sounds great. That middle section was so disorientating on first listen. Awesome. That’s great arranging.

@clioem 2d

Reslly captivating musical journey!

@dugganensis 3d

I dunno, I thought this was pretty cool! Meta-commentary on the creative grind. Interesting sequencing and tempo changes.

@danxduran 3d

Haha, I knew someone would suggest that... irony is I never get tunes out of thin air like I'm Paul McCartney 😂 this is just one of those lines that appears with the tune and I had to work out what it meant. I am insomniac, so that's the main inspiration. The tune is a metaphor lol

@regis 4d

Gotta say, I like some cheesiness in a synth (especially in a power pop context) so this sounds fine to me. I’m interested to hear how the middle is supposed to sound, but even with that placeholder there’s a lot of hooky goodness here.

@danxduran 3d

Thanks! The original snippet was basically those notes on an acoustic guitar. In my head it's kind of The Edge/Gilmour but simpler... but that's for another time.