Yesterday I had a very nice surprise… The new Seven Mary Three album–Day & Nightdriving–finally was released on iTunes. I’ll be working on a full review of this album soon, but I’m letting it sink in still. Of course, I’d be lying if I said that the first time I listened to it was then, but I have my sources like most of the other fans, and I had heard it a few weeks ago. We don’t talk about that, though. Whenever anyone mentions getting any album early, its like a giant male genitalia waving contest to see who got it hours, minutes, seconds first. Even still, that’s all beside the point.

The real point is, is the fact that it’s a really solid album. I’m highly impressed with it and as the guitar tabs come out from the album, I get more and more excited about my own songwriting. You see, most of these songs are 4-5 chord songs that are very simple pieces, and what makes them sound so “special” is the way the other instruments come in with them and the lyrical writing. The lyrics are key. Its why most of what I’ve been listening to the past few days has been Lucero and Seven Mary Three. There’s something in the songwriting that feels more story-esque and makes them right for me.

And that’s why I haven’t talked much about new songwriting from me. I’ve not really been writing too much in that light because I have a really bad perfectionist complex. Whenever I write lyrics, I hate to revise them. Its actually funny because a lot of my songs, I like a piece here, or I like a piece there, but I’ll hate a whole verse or half of a chorus, and because I “finished it” I don’t touch it. I’m trying to get better, which is why you haven’t heard anything new from me musically in a while, but even still. I sort of have one EP mostly written, but I’m finishing off those songs, and when its done the honestly, i’ve never felt better EP will be accordingly released. We’ll see, though.

But I’m working on writing exercises. I’ve got a few books of prompts and I have a composition notebook that I’ve been writing in every few days just with a free-write or two. And I’m trying to write more in a lyrical manner rather than my 4 lines, chorus, 4 lines, chorus. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m not using my 3:30 to really tell an effective tale or get the message I’m trying to across. Well, I guess I’m getting something across–sometimes better than others–but even still it doesn’t feel as good as it could to me and as right as it could. If anyone’s up for joining me with some of these exercises and workshopping them, either via phone or internet or over coffee, please let me know. Writing is a social activity, as much as people have that image of someone crunched over a typewriter with thick glasses, in a log cabin solitary overlooking the woods or good ol’ James Joyce locked up in his postal uniform.

Aside from that, I’m proud to announce the tracklisting for the CD which I’ll be recording as my “greatest hits” album. Okay, its more of a “retrospective” than that, because there are only a few songs on this one that are “great” and even less “hits” than that. And looking forward to any thoughts on the tracks because I know its an interesting collection there and some of those might be familiar as the dirt we walk on and others are titles that you might remember but possibly never heard. Enjoy, and enjoy your Wednesdays…

Five Years of Trying So Hard - Songs I Haven’t Forgotten To Play

1) Trying So Hard
2) Chasing Amy
3) One More Time
4) Entrophy
5) And I Said
6) In 2 Deep
7) Down (Alone Now)
8) Breakdown
9) Running Back To You
10) Second Rate Superhero

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 11:21 am by Adam and is filed under Babbling, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.