The Making of the EP Across the Water - Part 2

Song number 2:

NO GOODBYES

https://triinu.bandcamp.com/track/no-goodbyes 

 

One man, who has been an important influence in my composing, is definitely Leonard Cohen. It must have been 2010 when I stumbled upon his book of poems "The Book of Longing", at Gibert Jeune in St Michel, Paris. It immediately caught my eye and spoke to me. His choice of words and straighforwardness became a huge influence.

A few years later, in England, I was reading another one of his short stories and a sentence really stuck with me: "each day gets lonelier on this long drive". I carried it with me for a long time, until it finally ended up being in the song No Goodbyes.

 

Lonely days
on this long drive
strange names
and no goodbyes
The glass on the wall
don't recognize at all
the shape or the form
underneath your eyes
I'm not getting used to the sound of your soul 

It was the third song we recorded for the EP with Juliette JS. I had been playing around and getting ideas with this drum-machine-like pedal at home. J then programmed the drums on her computer. I drew a lot of inspiration for the song from travelling and foreign landscapes. The drums gave it a circular, forward-pushing feeling that felt really appropriate. To J there was something similar with the subject of Kurt Vile's "Pretty Pimpin".

For the guitar parts, we had set up our own little studio in the living room (shout out to our neighbours and roommate!) and recorded them there. After we got the riff down, I improvised on a few takes. That led to the material J used for the background arrangements.  She did a great job bringing the song together and gave it the right setting and atmosphere, a bit reminiscent of Tom Waits' Mule Variations album (produced together with his wife Kathleen Brennan).
 

The vocals were recorded in the studio. We had a version I think around Christmas/New Year, but weren't quite satisfied with it yet. So, the right takes were done pretty much in the end, just before Loving You. We also decided to add some backing vocals in the lower register towards the end, to have that creepy "sound of your soul that I'm not getting used to" effect.




The song in itself is written in my most alternative tuning yet: DACGBC. I was listening to quite a lot of Laura Marling at the time as well. For the lyrics, I went through notebooks, written during the road trip I took around South of France and Spain in 2014. In the end, for me, it became a song about confronting yourself, finding inspiration and strength from the feeling of being a stranger in foreign places.  



I'll catch you soon for the 3rd part of the Making of the EP! At the moment, sitting with a broken toe in my apartment, so have plenty of time for writing and reflections! Looking forward to be playing with J a set at the Rituel Festival in the Yvelines near Paris, 25th of Aug! Come see us AND we will be having CD's to sell!

Here's a facebook link to the event Rituel Festival: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1808608336109328/

And a link to buy and listen the full EP here (4€):
https://triinu.bandcamp.com/album/across-the-water


Take care,
Triinu