DREAMWAVE
“Dreamwave” was the fifth song I wrote for Prophets of the Cosmic Darkness.
By this point, I was starting to get faster.
I still had a lot to learn, but I wasn't spending quite as much time wondering where everything was in Logic Pro. I could actually get an idea down before I lost it.
This song started with the drums.
STARTING WITH THE RHYTHM
The first version of the beat was a little too close to “Billie Jean.”
Once I heard it, I couldn't unhear it.
So I changed it.
That ended up being useful because it forced me to stop settling for the first thing that worked and start thinking more carefully about what the song actually needed.
At the time, I was listening to a lot of Chromatics and The Midnight, and some of that influence was definitely finding its way into the way I was thinking about rhythm and synthesizers.
The rolling, sidechained bass became one of the main parts of the track.
Once that was working, the song started moving pretty quickly.
THE FIRST 16 BARS
I remember looping the first sixteen bars over and over while my husband's niece was visiting.
That was basically the song for a while.
Sixteen bars.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Probably very annoying for everyone else in the house.
But that's sometimes how I work.
If something feels right, I'll sit with it until I understand what needs to come next.
Eventually, the rest of the arrangement started filling itself in.
THE LYRICS
The lyrics came pretty quickly.
There wasn't some elaborate story behind them.
I liked the imagery.
I liked the way the words sounded against the music.
And I followed that.
Sometimes I think people expect every lyric to have a hidden explanation behind it.
Sometimes it does.
Sometimes you're trying to say something very specific.
And sometimes you're just responding to the feeling of the music and choosing words that belong there.
“Dreamwave” was more like that.
The song felt hazy, a little unreal, and slightly detached from everything around it.
So the lyrics went in that direction.
I wasn't building a mythology.
I wasn't trying to explain a dream.
I just liked where the words were taking me.
THE VOCALS
The vocals were also unusually easy to work with.
Normally, vocals can become the part where I start second-guessing everything.
The performance.
The tone.
The effects.
Whether they're sitting correctly in the mix.
With “Dreamwave,” they just seemed to fall into place.
That doesn't happen very often.
I didn't have to fight the song.
Once everything was together, it became one of my favorite things I had made up to that point.
Not because I had unlocked some secret meaning inside it.
I just liked the song.
Sometimes that's enough.
Lyrics
A dream in black and white
To read between the lines
This time it’s fight or flight
You know these are the signs
Please, guide me as I fall fast asleep
Please, guide me through
Please, guide me through
A dream in red and blue
Guide my way
At the thought of losing you
The anchor is aweigh
But this time you’re all mine
Guide my way
You know this is the sign
The anchor is aweigh
Please, guide me as I fall fast asleep
Please, guide me through
Please, guide me through
Please, guide me as I fall fast asleep
Please, guide me through
Please, guide me through
I said, Dance
My Dreamwave
My Dreamwave
This time I’m gonna fly
This time I’m gonna fly
Please, guide me as I fall fast asleep
Please, guide me through
Please, guide me through
Please, guide me as I fall fast asleep
Please, guide me through
Please, guide me through
