Maria (demo)

The lyrics for this song were written years ago, I think circa 2002 or so, but didn’t become a song until some time in 2006. I wrote the music for this and another song Caoineadh initially as piano instrumentals first. The lyrics for Caoineadh started to come as I was playing through the music for that one, but it was only as I was going through old ideas and words that I’d sketched out that I noticed that the other instrumental I’d been doodling on at the piano fit rather well with the words of Maria. I have two other melodic lines written (possibly two violins, but I’m toying with the idea of going with woodwinds for this song, as I think it’d suit it better, but that’s for another day I guess) but they’re not recorded in this demo at all.

It’s a song that I always mess up the verse order in when I play it live, but at the same time, it’s a song that I tend to pull out a lot when I’m playing live, as it’s just lovely to play to be honest. I might record an instrumental version of this when I work out the rest of the instrumentation. I think that would be lovely.

Maria (demo) by misterebby

Friday Night Friends (demo)

This song kinda came together in dribs and drabs over a wee period of time. The main chunk of the lyrics were written all at once, in a longer form that I edited down a good time later. But it didn’t really start to come together until I added what became the middle section and the whole idea of what the song was about started to take shape.

Initially I was going for a piano version of a surf-pop kinda song, to counteract the bite in the lyrics, I’m still not sure about what way the arrangement will go: whether to make it poppier and lighter, or to go for a more piano rock sound. I’m still toying with this song in that regards, but I do like playing it solo with just piano.

I’m rather terrible at programming beats, but I just needed something to play off and to start to give myself an idea of how the whole song would sound. So, it’s definitely a demo, and definitely quite rough still, but it’s helped me to see the shape of the song, and what I want to change or alter, and to give me ideas on how I want to flesh out the arrangement more.

Friday Night Friends (demo) by misterebby

Download: Galway Rain – demo.

London

I’ve had the house to myself again today, so after spending a while in town being sociable I came home and spent the evening playing with the cat, cooking dinner, and demoing a song.

This song is one that popped up in the video clips from a gig I did in January, so I’ve been wanting to start recording it in some way. I never really get to hear the songs until I hear a recording of them, as when you’re playing them it’s hard to be an outside listener too.

Regardless, this demo is scrappy: bum notes on the piano; bum notes in the vocals; rough sketch of the middle bit with the layers. Just generally a bit scrappy all round, but it gives a good idea of the whole song.

I’m not 100% sure of about this song yet – it feels too long, and I’m pondering whether I should cut a section, or merge some parts or something. As it stands, the lyrics were mostly written when I lived in the UK in 2005 or so, and the music was written when I was living in Galway a year ago at this stage. It’s a song that has kinda hung around for a while without really becoming anything until it just popped out while I was playing around with a piano idea one day.

Anyways, here’s the demo I put together this evening.

[audio:http://www.misterebby.com/previewtracks/galwayraindemo.mp3]
Galway Rain (demo) (right-click and save to download)

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Cover: Under The Ivy – Kate Bush

On a whim while practising piano yesterday, I decided to record a few cover versions as it had been a while since I’d tried using my little home studio setup. I used to play Under The Ivy a lot when I was in university – it’s one the more beautiful piano based Kate Bush songs, and has been one of my favourite of her songs for many years.

I’ve not really done anything major or drastically different to it, although I do sing it in a different key, to try and suit my voice a little better. But, here it is, regardless.

[audio:http://www.misterebby.com/previewtracks/undertheivy.mp3]
Under The Ivy (Kate Bush cover)

Incidentally, I did a cover of “Donut Song” by Tori Amos in the same session, which I may post here later sometime. I’m not very happy with it, but it was an experiment.

Free Download: Rebel (demo)

I’m never sure about titles. In fact, I often hate titling songs, and sometimes have short nicknames for songs which is how I refer to them in set lists or whatever. That’s definitely the case with this one. It was nearly called “Running For Miles”, but I’m not too sure about that either. I guess I’ll see what I think when the time comes that it is released properly recorded. This song is another really old lyric (one from when I was a teenager) that decided to become a song in the last year.

There’s a section in the demo where I think it’s clear that there’ll be a fuller instrumentation in the song from that point. This is one of those songs where the melody and piano part just came together at the same time. It’s a simple little song and I’ve grown rather fond of it. It’s about someone I know, sort of. But I guess it’s true that any song I write about someone I know, or something I’ve experience, is fictionalised in some way. Most of the elements remain, but altered just enough that I feel more comfortable with them.

[audio:http://www.misterebby.com/previewtracks/rebel.mp3]
Rebel (demo)

kali

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