July 31, 2011

Anyone There?

Aloha people,

Seems like it's been ages since our dear friend Enggar updated this blog.Well, she's away now, working for Medecins du Monde in Papua, and she won't be back until next year. We all miss her, she's been with us since day one, and even years before that.

Anyways, I'm gonna update this blog for now, and probably the rest of the guys will join me too, but until then, you can enjoy my ramblings.

Right, what to write then? I guess it's easy to complain but I'll try my best not to. I'll start with our progress I guess, something positive and hopefully not boring :)

Songs, do we have any new ones? yes, at this moment we have 1, 2, 3, 4...about 10 songs, all sketches with clear forms. We actually have around 30 something-songs but they're all currently far too raw, anyway, here's our list so far (plus a quick description on each if you don't mind):

1. At The Zoo - this is the first song that I 'discovered' for Swimming Elephants, well, back in '08 there was no band at all, it was just me, Ninu and Yogas, trying to do something over the weekend. It's about my life in Melbourne, perhaps a tiny part of it. I remember that when I discovered it, I was frustrated because the strings on my electric guitar broke off, and it's a big deal since I couldn't tune a guitar, or anything, even until now. So what I did was I put the guitar away and looked for something else, something that doesn't require a tuning, that's when I found my Dad's old keyboard. It's an old crappy Yamaha designed for tone deaf kids to play around with (that's me). That's the first time ever I actually 'played' a keyboard; I found the basic notes for the song with 4 fingers - I was like an idiot.

After having the basic notes- still far from having a song, Enggar came to my house, listened to the sketch, gave me some suggestions, and then voila, my first so-called song was made.

2. Sarah - this was 'found' when my keyboard-playing ability have improved a bit (from 4 fingers-playing to a full scale 7!!) This song is actually about 2 things, the melody is about one thing, and the lyric is about something else...I told people that it's about looking for an idealism that you once had when you're young(er) but then for some reason you lost it as you grow older and you want to acquire it again, all that represented by the search for this Sarah girl. While on some level it's actually the truth, I better keep the other truth concealed for now :)

I was born in 1984, but that doesn't have anything to do with anything...

3. Paparap - this one is a satirical song about being old and lonely. I found the basic notes while listening to Ninus' drumming. It's a spontaneous thing; he played this interesting beat one lazy afternoon and it just triggered me to play a certain rhythm that would become the base of the song.

4. Kacrut - Yogas wrote this one, I think it's about life being overrated, but he can tell you more about it later ( I don't want to guess and make a mistake :P)

5. Meadows - Yogas wrote this one too, I don't quite get the song as in understanding the lyrics in it's entirety, but I do get the emotion. Anyways, he often said that it was meant to sound different than the version that we have now, but he's quite happy with it. He might tell you about it later.

6. Battle - Hmmmm, all I can tell you about this one is that when I discovered it, the guitar playing was different than the version that we have now. It was finger-plucked, not strummed and sounded more folky. I guess you can tell what it's about from the lyric, it's pretty obvious (not that you know or even heard about it anyway haha :D)

7. Night Park - The version that we often play nowadays is actually the second version of the song. When I found it the first time, it was so fast and somewhat intense, I don't know how to explain it, but we almost abandoned this song until one day Ninu was (again) playing this certain beat and I started to play the same notes but based on that beat. After I adjusted the sound, I changed the vocal melody and then the song was made. It's about doing what you're born to do, instead of just trying to survive.

8. Digicam #1 - Still a working title, I haven't written the full lyric yet for this one, and still working on my guitar part of the song. It's about being honest I guess, with yourself.

9. She Ocean - Found this after learning about the 10 basic jazz guitar chords through a Youtube tutorial ;P For now the lyric is quite morbid, I don't know why, but the version I have is about helping your lover to die. I'm still not sure if that's what the song is about, I might change the lyric later on.

10. Pillars of Sands - Another great song by Yogas. We haven't played this one on stage yet. And I'm still not sure what the song is about, he should tell you more about it later. What I can tell you is that it's quite atmospheric and kinda breezy...

Okay...seems like I got the amount right. It's half past eleven now and I better go to bed because I have to wake up so early tomorrow, it's gonna be the first day of Ramadhan; the muslims fasting month, and I'm way past my bedtime. Hope I don't bore you with all these trivial things, just wanted to let you know that we're still here :)

Oh yeah, one more thing, we're planning to have 12 songs (that's 2 more songs to go) ready this year to be played live and recorded, we're thinking of making an album...you know, just a little something to tell our future kids about before they go to bed (or when they start to think that they have boring parents) :)

Saras might come up with a song or two, or somebody else will perhaps, we'll keep you posted.


- Gilar

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