Catching Fire

Live instruments trying to emulate electronic ones can be rather disconcerting.

However, that's our "Catch a Fire" in a nutshell. On this one, we're going for it like it's the '80's and everyone's in Depeche Mode - although I think Martin Gore rarely rammed four overlapping overdrives in one guitar signal chain.

Technology makes things easy

Be as it may, writing this song was a nice little moment for us as a band; it was the first one Anu ever contributed to. When you're bringing in a new band member, you really never know what you got until you start writing together. So I was walking on eggshells for a spell on this first one, especially since (once again) I didn't bring much of a song to work on. Just a bassline and an extremely frail outline for a vocal line, along with my trademark delusions of grandeur.

After much manic gesturing, spastic signalling, humming, strumming and scatting, I thought I'd conveyed the basic idea of this song-to-be to my frightened bandmates reasonably well. Anu got it right away; she immediately came up with the key piano melody for the chorus, and Jaakko & Pekka locked in then and there. In less than a hour the song was done. To this day it's one of our quickest writes. Welcome aboard, pretty synth lady!

I wish recording the song had been as easy. Laying down the instruments was fairly straightforward, but vocally I had this elusive vision to try to make the leads sound like vocorded or pitched. Like, without actually using a vocorder or a pitcher. Little genius me.

As expected, two days later I find myself slumped next to the mic, cursing myself, my pipes and this song to the ninth layer of Dante's inferno.

In the end, we settled for something a bit less '80's disco, although I have to say we're definitely getting a rematch this ditty. In the meantime, I'm getting some semblance of peace and comfort by repeating in my head "it's only a demo...it's only a demo...demoes can afford not being perfect…there is no suck...suck does not exist in this dojo..."

Anyway, when we get there, the album version will rule. Round two is going to be a bitch - 'cause then we might actually use some 'real' electronic instruments.

You see, Pekka's gotten himself some drum pads for Xbox, and we're hooking them up to his kit!

Not kidding. Alan Moulder eat your heart out.

~Markus

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The AC/DC -defense

Should you check out the history of a random long-term band, of any periods of experimentation invariably one is found in the early steps of their careers. (This goes for most bands except AC/DC, who were, of course, awesome at birth).

This is pretty logical when you think of it; when flailing about to find your own voice, typically you end up hopscotching genres and trying out all kinds of silly things to get somewhere you realize you want to be.

Good ol' Angus going for progressive.

In songwriting, this results in "artistic" ideas in songs placed front and center; quirky song structures, weird sounds and off-kilter instrumentations tend to mask the nagging feeling of "not being quite there yet". Once it becomes clear what you want to focus on, it often makes more sense to write songs simple and to the point.

* * *

When heading to record last Fall, we'd been going through this process of simplification for some time as a band. Our chosen two songs for these sessions, "The Wait" and "Catch a Fire", definitely reflect this. The experimental part of Sestina still was, and is, alive and well, but I feel we've gotten better at getting to the point. Hence, simpler songs.

Furthermore, we were much more confident with the roles of our respective instruments in this band, so the arrangements were infinitely more simple this time around.

* * *

The genesis for these particular songs, however, is probably the love of playing live.

In May 2011, Sestina had made its live debut in this new incarnation. It was a hit-and-miss session - as first shows usually are - but once the rush of playing your music to a receptive audience hits you, you kind of want to get there with all you've got.

So pretty soon after that show, these two songs were born.

The Wait was the one to come first. Once the basic chords had started rattling in my head, I insisted in making a relentless, pounding live anthem out of it. I think most of our early rehearsals of the song had me screaming repeatedly "louder!!! hit harder!!!" to everyone. At one point, the prospect of double kick drums was a genuine consideration.

When the song was ready, which happened quite fast, it soared just like I wished it would. I knew it was a good one, but I still had a lot of hesitation of it being too…well, normal. After all, the song structure was the most basic ABABC -drivel that's been done to death for half a century now, and there was very little signarure Sestina weirdness going on.

Oh well, sometimes you just have to play the AC/DC -defense and try to pass simplicity as a virtue. Even though Angus Young I'm not.

See you next week. Until then, Shearwater. Check it out.

~Markus

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The Death of a Dogma

These are the chronicles of Sestina's most recent adventures into the fearsome world of home recording, from the Fall of 2011 to the Spring of 2012. 

Join us as we bullheadedly try to realize the illusion of high budget studio magic in bathroom & duct-tape acoustics of lo-fi tracking!

Sestina recordings 2011-2012, Part I: The Death of a Dogma

Apologies for the above mouthful of a title. It is a reference to my high & mighty, hot-headed rantings about certain preferred recording practices from a while back.

You see, this time when recording we pretty much decided to take the easiest way and track everything individually. On a click track. Using triggered drums. (ugh)

This method is pretty much diametrically opposed to the aforementioned recording dogmas of the past. Live sound my ass, this time it would be post-processing all the way. Zeroes and ones and computer synthetics. Bring in the robots, bring in the plugins - damn the human element!

* * *

A visual representation of our recording philosophy.

Of course, there are good reasons for this kind of jackassery, none of which are artistic. Rather they are well presented in the age-old mantra "beggars can't be choosers".

Zero budget recordings. This state of affairs dictated our approach when we holed up in our band rehearsal space in October, 2011: No big studio and fancy equipment to play around with - just a laptop, a few mics and a room with the acoustic properties of a high school gym locker room. No matter how majestic the sounds might be coming out of our speakers & skins, in this particular space they promptly transform into a fart in a can.

A veritable cave of inspiration for the budding sound engineer. The job which, as usual, fell on Jaakko to do, for the simple reason that he's the only one of us who can do it well. With power comes great responsibility!

* * *

Make no mistake, we'd still love to record everything live in a million dollar a day studio, in a acoustically contoured hall the size of an airplane hangar, while sipping piña coladas and lazily dissecting the merits the David Bowie's vocal miking on "Heroes". With David Bowie, chatting us live from the control room talkback. However, in this case, we just had to scale down our ambitions just a bit from that standard to get the message across.

In the end, that's what's important, right? Not the package, not the delivery, but what's inside.

Let's delve into that a bit closer next week. Ie. the actual songs.

Until then, here's something for inspiration and general awesomeness:

~Markus




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Sestina…lives!

Well hello there, dear friends.

I know this blog has been quiet for a spell. This doesn't mean the band's been asleep…far from it, actually. There's a pretty huge backlog of stuff I want to catch up on this blog, which means some of the upcoming updates will be a bit like taking a walk down the memory lane.

However, since we're right now actually in the process of putting out the stuff we've been working on for the last months, looking back is entirely appropriate.

So, you can expect:

• Blogs on our most recent studio adventures
• Some background on our two new songs, "The Wait" and "Catch a Fire"
• Live show blogs
• Working on new songs
• Ruminations on the future activities of Sestina

Of course, there's also some missing blogs from last year, like the complete song blogs on "Faster" and "Wake Up One Night". Don't worry, those are on the way as well.

The bottom line: No time like the present time for Sestina. Wonderful things on the way - join us for the ride!

~Markus

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Live inspiration:

M83 @ Coachella, 2012

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"Faster" - The song and how it came about

Most of the time, writing songs for me is just picking up a guitar and waiting for something to come out of the soundhole. However, sometimes songs come out of a desire to write a very specific kind of tune, or a song in a certain chosen genre. The push may come from instrumentation, rhythm, or just from the basic inspiration to melt faces live.


Even from this wider perspective, "Faster" was a freak of a song to write. It came about from a surprisingly persistent desire to convey a very specific mood through music; the feverish feel of driving in a car at high speeds on empty roads at night. Don't ask me why, this probably comes from my lifelong fascination with a bevy of 80's soft rock bands and early MTV music videos.

* * *

If this gets Chris Rea going, it's good enough for me too.

Anyway, at first I didn't have anything but this basic feel I was going for - no melodies, no rhythms, no nothing. Then came the basic bass pattern, quickly followed by a very Billy Idolish guitar bridge chorus. Like is typical for me with these kinds of things, the first reaction was laughter, next came embarrassment, and then the quiet resignation that this silly little riff was actually quite necessary. And awesome in its own way.


With these couple of parts floating about, I let the song brew in its own juices for a very long time. It was maybe five years altogether in the making, making "Faster" probably our second oldest new song after "Devil May Care". I was in no hurry to get it done; actually, I went back and forth with regarding the basic ideas and melodies ridiculous or worthwhile.

* * *

Fittingly, the chorus vocal melody came to me when I was driving, although admittedly during the daytime and at conservative speeds. I was coming back from visiting my grandmother at a hospital, which was the last time I ever saw her. The chorus chords, that had recently been going through various transformations in my head, took their final shape as I sat down in the car and came up with a bit of an unusual staccato vocal line. (Which later on would prove to be a bitch to write words to).


Again, much to the confusion of my beloved bandmates, the song was far from finished when I brought it to rehearsals. It had maybe two guitar parts, and the rest was just humming, rhythms and making a lot of unsettling gestures to try to let everyone know what I had in mind. Fortunately, they grasped the tune pretty fast and turned into something much better. Instead of keeping the pulse throughout the chorus, they made it driving and heavy at the same time, which suited the vocals perfectly.

* * *

In the end, I'm happy to say the song ended up being very close to the mood and feel I initially was going for, even though the incubation period laster forever. 


Never resist ideas, my friends. Especially the persistent ones.


~Markus


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Token background music. Yet again:

Radiohead - King of Limbs

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Waste No Words - The Words

Most Sestina songs are love stories. Now why do I feel slightly ashamed to admit that?


Let's face it, choosing to write a love song is not exaclty the most original route to take. You can write about just about anything else and feel more pioneering about it.


On the other hand, no two love stories are the same, so writing about them never really gets old. Just ask Paul McCartney.

* * *

The lyrics in Waste No Words came out of a working title and a simple idea for a  story I had. The two had no real common thematic ground to begin with, but I decided to put them together anyway. Quite like in a good, old-fashioned marriage arrangement. Sometimes it's refreshing to just toy around with ideas and see what comes out.


Not the easiest write, though. This was one of my earlier "new" Sestina lyrics, and at this point I was still trying to figure out how to convey a story in the little space of a song. Come to think of it, I still am.


Anyway, telling a love story is an especially tricky thing to pull off with a handful of lines. There has to be some point of focus, or you'll probably find yourself grasping at straws trying to cram it all in there. Sounds reasonable, right?


So in the spirit of disregarding my own rules (I've been doing a lot of that lately) I ended up trying to cover the whole thing anyway; or, at least, the space of one year. I didn't start out that way, but a lot of things kept changing while going through many drafts - the ages of the characters, the story arc etc. - so eventually I just let the story freely go where it wanted.


I think it turned out pretty good in the end.

* * *

The last lines I wrote were the last lines of the song. That was actually the moment I really understood the story I was telling. When I began rehearsing the song by myself, it was only after a few days I could finish that part without choking up.


Hopeless love stories from a hopeless sap to hopeless romantics...


~Markus


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Waste No words

turning around
spots him in a crowd

a face so young bears no lines at all

hers a roadmap of the lost and the alone

such a pretty thing

he takes her by the hand

like a lover like a son

she breathes him in
and he breathes her out

one more sigh
then he helps her down

still holds on
she stays wrapped around

for the longest time
she fears

she's falling hard

saying

"waste no words

you're all alone

save the truth

for somebody who wouldn't know"

she fills her heart

asleep in his arms

and dreams about the final train out of this town

spring moves on
this has got to stop

tells herself that one month is enough

takes one year before deciding that she's done

they say love is never found in cheap motels

but the boy is waiting
and she says

"waste no words

he's all alone

save the truth

for somebody who wouldn't know"

she fills her heart

asleep in his arms

and dreams about the final train out of this town

she knows herself

knows what time can do

still tells him

"this I swear is true"

"I might be old
I might be a fool

but I'll stay here

and I belong to you"

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Chosen films for a counter-intuitive writing environment:

Mario van Peebles - Baadasssss!

Christopher Smith - Severance

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Faster = Later

The irony...oh, the unbearable irony...


Seems that our next song, the appropriately titled "Faster", is still some time away from reaching your ears, our dear listeners.


The reason for the holdup is simple: Much of what we recorded live is rubbish. Out of tune, out of beat, sounds bad, feels worse. Just plain crap.


The song is amazing, though.




Thankfully, Pekka did best of us three slobs, so we're keeping his pretty excellent drum tracks and building the song from there, top to bottom all over again. It's going to take a couple of weeks before we're there, though.


Since my recent rant extolling the virtues of live recording, I should probably be movie-quoting Jack Nicholson: "Well, don't I feel like the f*****g a*****e".




Bear with us, dear friends. We promise to make it worth your wait.


~Markus

Music to lessen/increase the guilt:

Jesu (pretty much anything they've ever recorded)

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