Whiskey And Silence 

Disclaimer: Every part of this album, from start to finish, was done under the quarantine of COVID-19. The song writing, musical composition, arrangement, and all collaboration was performed while each band member stayed within their homes. Each song represents a part of said quarantine.

Whiskey And Silence started as a simple acoustic guitar and vocal song. When COVID-19 hit, and we were all quarantined, I wanted to write a song dealing with what I felt a lot of people might be struggling to deal with. Loneliness, isolation, and silence. I wrote a song, sent it to my band for approval, and to my surprise they came back with suggesting that we not only put a whole band arrangement behind the song, but we should do a three song ep. Of course that meant I had to come up with two more songs, but more on that later.

Whiskey And Silence deals with the idea that when isolated, silence can become painful. When we can't distract ourselves, our inner demos (both known and previously unknown) tend to show their fangs. I've found that with current technology, it's pretty easy to surround ourselves with noise, both in a literal sense and in the form of constant distraction. But after weeks of being stuck inside your own house, it's a lot harder to scare off the silence. 

I tried really hard to work in imagery of wearing out a path on your floor between your bed and your couch in an effort to bring out a feeling of restlessness. And, originally, the phrase "I'll have another glass of whiskey with a side of silence alone. Staring at a blank wall, watching time go by so slow." But all of these came out a little too pop punk. Too angsty. So I changed to a more metaphorical side of things and came up with "Another day stuck inside the walls of my head. And I'm wearing a path running from the demons I know and the ones still in shadow." Soon, the idea of silence being more like a person instead of the absence of sound took place. What we once ran from, we shared a glass of whiskey with. Silence is closer to a teacher. A hard-ass of a teacher, sure, but one that, after breaking us, will help us put our pieces back together.

As is so common to my songs, Whiskey And Silence ends, not with resolution, but with the hope that resolution might come. 

Perhaps more important than the story is the arrangement. This is the first song where I depart from my acoustic only vibe. Sure, I've had organ before, but I pulled out all the stops on this one. I say "I" like it was my decision. It was my bands. They finally convinced me to not just add electric guitar, but also synth, delays, distortions, reverbs. I left my straight folk influences to adopt a sound similar to my favorite band, Frightened Rabbit. And I'm pretty proud of the result.

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