About the Music - Illusions

Welcome back!

I hope you're enjoying the posts I've made so far. I know they're very length-y, but it's only because I feel that all that is being shared is important to the content I'm providing. If you haven't read the previous posts, then you can go check them out here! So far, I have written an introduction, a post about my music project, "The Mystery Figure", and a post about one of my songs.

I think I'm going to continue explaining more about each song and how they came to be, which is why this post is dedicated to my second piano composition, "Illusions".

Background

If you read the previous post, then you know that I created "Illusions" after I first played my song "Ninety Eight" in front of my piano teacher. The chord structure to both songs is incredibly similar, which is why they might sound the same to one another. Regardless of that, I actually think "Illusions" is a lot better than "Ninety Eight".

If "Ninety Eight" is the "happy sounding" composition, then "Illusions" is the "sad/angry sounding" one. In fact, the album version of "Illusions" is pretty dark - which was completely unintentional. That's usually what happens whenever I record music after having composed it and practiced it on just piano for so long - the recording process ultimately changes the song into something I never could have imagined. I don't go in to my "studio" (which is honestly just whatever room has my piano and a computer to record) and know exactly what my music is going to sound like; I simply record the piano "base", and add instruments on top of it. Whatever comes out is from a session that I spent time working on that particular song.

Composition

"Illusions" is a song where I use a similar chord structure to "Ninety Eight", but it does have its differences. Unlike "Ninety Eight", Illusions is more of just a simple melody repeated over and over again, with an instrumental "bridge". The album version of the song is really dark, and I feel it was very inspired by the "heavy metal" music I listened to in high school. This would include bands like Killswitch Engage, Bullet For My Valentine, or similar. I refer to it as "heavy metal" because I don't really know the actual genres they perform; some refer to it as "metalcore" or "screamo" or other, and I have not really taken the time to properly learn about the various genres. I just enjoy the music I listen to and find inspiration from the music.

I think the album version of "Illusions" has inspiration from this music because it brings a dark tone that I've heard in some of these songs. The best example I can think of is the quiet, dark tone from Killswitch Engage's "Just Barely Breathing" introduction, before it builds up into the heavy, powerful song. While this song was not a direct inspiration to the original composition, it does have a similar feeling in the album version.

PERADVENTURE

"Illusions" is a continuation of "Ninety Eight". In PERADVENTURE, the two songs are actually split up only because I had no idea how to record two songs back to back and not have a gap in them. I hope to fix this mistake and many others that appear in the album. 

Lyrically, "Illusions" is talking about a person who doesn't want to think about the problems that will arise from their issues; they don't want to be personally responsible for something they've done. The lyrics themselves are really random. This is due to the fact that I'm actually really bad at songwriting in general. I can come up with lyrics for a tune, but they don't really make much sense. The lyrics for this song are "Illusions enter my mind / Something I've yet to find / Something that I must do / Then you / Enter mind's crevices / All ready (already?) with your pen / You will write out this end", so you can clearly see how bad my songwriting actually is.

In the story of the album, the main character has started to realize that running away from their problem was not a good thing to do. In fact, they regret what they've done and are thinking of the consequences of their actions. This is similar to a scene in a film where someone is beating themselves up over something they've done wrong. They realize just how badly they've handled things and feel that there's no way to fix their wrongdoing.

Artwork

Every song on PERADVENTURE has its own artwork. I did this because I love knowing what each song has for a cover. All of the images I used for each track is a picture I took on my old smartphone, an HTC One M8. They were all edited to be in black & white, but I also have a color version (which can probably be found online, whether on my Instagram or Tumblr - they also are available on my Spotify account for each track's playlist, but are currently hidden. I'll share them in the future).

An image of a tree, looking up, at night.

Links

You can hear "Illusions" for free online on SoundCloud and YouTube. I uploaded different versions of the song. The first is the "single version", which is just the main song itself. The second is the "album version". You can hear these two versions online in the links below:

• SoundCloud (Single Version) - https://soundcloud.com/intrpidbhaviors/illusions
• SoundCloud (Album Version) - https://soundcloud.com/intrpidbhaviors/illusions-album-version
• YouTube (Single Version) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W7TUnOPyAk
• YouTube (Album Version) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJq-S5E-L4Y&t=1s

Alternatively, there exists a new version of the song that I re-released months after I released PERADVENTURE. I did this because the original version needed a few edits, like the fact that it was too "low" in some parts, and how the introduction was actually off in terms of the tempo it was supposed to be on.

• SoundCloud (Remastered Version) - https://soundcloud.com/intrpidbhaviors/illusions-new-version
• YouTube (Remastered Version) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfKa52K9BMY

You can also download the song on SoundCloud or Google Drive:

• Google Drive (.m4a) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7mxV_2zNKDIakZoTjd5eG1Ia28/view?usp=sharing
• Google drive (.mp3) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7mxV_2zNKDIc0RYT0g4OGlTcmM/view?usp=sharing

If any of these links are broken or not working, then please let me know. Alternatively, if you would rather rip the songs off YouTube, then you are more than welcome to do so as long as you do not share the work on your own channel, site, etc. Please do not repost or use my music without permission for your own projects, personal or otherwise. If you are sharing the music with other people, then know that it is okay to do so. Otherwise, ask if you are unsure about how to use my music.