"Fire At Will" : FAWM

Fire At Will

6 days ago by @jeff9

Liner Notes

Fiddling around with this open tuning and found a little rhythm that punched up this short idea about some kind of apocalypse...or at least a very bad day. Been streaming a lot of dark shows lately. Plus, the news.

Lyrics

Razor wire and broken glass In your words Angels fallen in your wake Like poisoned birds Please give us just a minute One last breath Before the kill

Predators and sheep Your point of view How many of us can you eat Til you are through Don’t feel fire til we are in it You take one more Just for the thrill

How could we have been asleep so long Technology has numbed our very souls Forgot that we are flesh and blood And animals in the end

Nature runs beyond control Unbound No ice or flood required This time around Our beating hearts a morsel in the meal Too late But fire at will

Comments

@newukenewyork 1h

I watch a lot of dark-themed media, too. "Please give us just a minute One last breath"

makes me think of Bugonia.

Those last two lines are such a solid, if bleak, ending. Good stuff.

@mikeb 5h

Very dark, and the open tuning chords lend to the darkness. Of course, I'm still a sucker for your 1+1 songs!

@chill4matt 20h

I love the lyrics here, and the strumming and vocals are very good. Nice work all the way around.

@davidtaro 1d

Feels like the tuning has pushed you into some very cool 90s alt-rock territory! Perfect for the bleak, end of days lyrics. Could kind of imagine this as a Nirvana Unplugged track. Awesome write, although now I feel a strange compulsion to buy canned goods and a shotgun…

@lbrewington 1d

[continued]

i guess i like the bridge as well, especially the last line, which is the point of the song revealed and distilled to a single line, which is usually what i look for on an end of bridge, so great job there. using the word guess here because i was expecting a tilting more energetic bridge (remember driving drums) but for this arraignment you back off to deliver the impact lines. don't take this as a criticism though, it works here, i'm just really stuck on my rock and roll version in my head, haha.

i feel like this is more of you stretching your repertoire and genre bending that i've seen you writing lately which is fantastic. i also really like the theme and idea of "hey everyone we are primitive beings". your songs are always welcome to fire at will and here is another great one.

@lbrewington 1d

the first thing that really catches my attention in the song is the guitar. there is an effect on it which is one thing, but it's the way that effect blends the sound into something more. going back and listening to it again, those four opening single strum chords are the summation of the vibe of the song and what i am focused on here, which is really cool that you were able to do that for the opening. in that regard, you label the sound as dark, and i think that is true, but i only would only think that out of place in a genre like country or singer songwriter, but through and through here, i hear this as a grunge song, or a 90s rock song if you will, whatever you want to call it, it's that vibe. in that context, i don't think i would say the song is dark but would say it's perfectly in genre and on point. and that is what i mean by blending that sound into something more. when you hit those strums perfectly it's pure rock and roll.

keeping the context, the words are on point. razor wire / broken glass / predators / feeding, all great. my favorite line has to be 'angles fallen in your wake / like poisoned birds". jeff you little emo songwriter you! ha. love it.

the pacing is great, going back to the genre vibes, it's really good in that space. this arraignment is good, but i could see a rock drummer really driving this, which would setup my next take perfectly. the song is short at two minutes, but that is good cause it leaves the space for a guitar solo, with those drums pushing it hard and it just soaring.

@chrisgray 2d

Love this, Jeff -- this writing is so powerful and vivid. LOVE angels falling like poisoned birds. And that opening line is fantastic, too. This whole thing feels like black clouds flashing lightning bolts of warning to humanity. With the profound thought that tech has numbed our souls so that we've forgotten who and what we are. This is so different for you and so wonderful -- big congrats!!

@wynia 3d

You've captured a darker vibe here with the lyrics and the melodic tone. I like the chord progression, it adds an edge. The line "don't feel fire/til we are in it" resonates with me, I feel like a lot of what society is going through (and will go through) can be summed up by that. Of course those in power care nothing about how their decisions to enrich themselves will affect the average person or future generations

@andygetch 4d

Oooh open tuning! This feels like it is straight out of a dystopian future soundtrack.

@oswlek 4d

Is this the tuning with a bunch of Es and Bs? Sounds like a lot of the same notes ringing out at the same time.

The opening couple verses would sound boss with some distortion and thundering drums. I think you could carry that approach vocally.

The lyric is cool in that I don't even have to pay attention from line to line to feel how well it matches the guitar. Every time I turn around there's another foreboding tactile image.

Is this the full idea? Or something to get down before fleshing out a more complete version?

@jeff9 4d

Thanks, J. Tuning is EBBF#BEb. Just a hook shot from half-court hoping to hit the backboard, so I haven't thought about further development, but you're right that it could stand something besides just an acoustic guitar.

@tjeff 5d

Indeed dark, but sounds great Jeff! You've got a cool-sounding open tuning there - and strummed in a nice driving groove. Fits your voice well. Nice song!