Uboa - Banksia Grave

Another noise diary song, this time a little more quiet/subtle, and produced in a more plain/lo-fi way more reminiscent of my older 2019-era work (like The Origin and The Absolute).

 It uses also synth jams - the first part from 2020 (using a minilogue) and the second half from 2015 (!) using a MIDI keyboard as a basis. The latter I had found on an old HDD, the songs they were used for were not very good, so I pillaged the samples (from 9 years ago, I rarely delete my unfinished or even 'bad' songs).

 I've been wanting to try more subtle composition again recently using less elaborate production and more focus on simple emotion - I find spending 100 hours mixing a song out of countless elements doesn't guarantee a good composition and can often intimidate me out of feeling creative. The Origin was very lightly layered - most songs only having max 10 layers (compared to IL's max of 150!). This one is around 20. Having things hidden behind here helps too - I get a little less inhibited composing how I want to when less eyes are watching (at least for now).

It was made in bed, exhausted and both physically/mentally drained staring out of my window - looking out to the flowers in the front yard in the sun. It sounds tired, but not necessarily 100% bleak. The vocals were recorded with a field recorder while wrapped in sheets and sleep deprived, and only in a few takes. My singing is more ...folky/whispery rather than polished. Whenever I am unwell, pitch always takes a hit and I sing lower and slightly less in key. But this is similar to the singing on the Origin, and thus a little more vulnerable. Likewise, it is very dry sounding - just compression, eq, subtle room reverb and some slight saturation. It is also recorded stereo, so both layers kind pan around you, giving that 'intimate' effect that I kinda stopped doing after The Origin, mostly due to me having a lot self-cringe and dysphoria brainworms about my voice to this day.

Currently considering putting some of the noise diary songs together for a record (or two, depending how they fit together. I'd be curious to see how they flow together, and also going back and doing 'definitive' versions of each track. If not all the tracks flow together, I might need to make more in order to create a sense of narrative between the two - which is always a good writers block breaker. I like the idea of doing something more obviously noise, more lo-fi and less grandiose than IL for a change. Something more ...domestic sounding - rather than big and alien.

The song and the lyrics are about the sameyness each day tends to be when one is chronically fatigued, similar to a few of the last noise diary entries. However sometimes lyrics mean more than what I intend them to however, as the unconscious is always up to something.

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Banksia Grave

im sorry

its so 

tough for you

its been long 

since suns rise 

all food in the fridge

we should eat it

before the mould does

and make potpourris

out of the lavender

 in the front

don’t forget to

take your vitamins

and to tell god you love her