Monster (Second Try)

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Monster (First Recording)

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This Will Kill That (Second Try)

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This Will Kill That (First Recording)

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When I'm You (Second Try)

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When I'm You (First Recording)

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Caught In The Still Frame (Third Version)

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Caught In The Still Frame (Second Version)

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Stuck In A Daydream (First Version)

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Lost Balloons (Second Try)

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Lost Balloons (First Recording)

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All five songs were recorded on an Olympus handheld voice memo recorder. One track. Very, very raw. I recorded the first song the day before I turned 32. I was in the chronological middle of my PhD and I wanted to take a break from science. And do something simple. Not measured or cautious. No care for quality or revision. Honoring that spirit, I wrote and reorded Monster (on September 4, 2012) in ten minutes. Fifteen tops. One minute to come up with the melody, two minutes for lyrics, tuned the guitar, and recorded it twice. Aaron Lum recorded Monster Reinterpreted on July 13, 2013. This Will Kill That was mostly written the next day (September 5, 2012... my birthday). It didn't feel complete, so I set it aside for a couple of days. Then tinkered with it for a couple of nights. Then recorded it (twice) on September 9, 2012. When I'm You: October 26, 2012. This was another few-day song. Instrumentation, vocal melody, and nearly complete lyrics in one evening. And then a couple of days of minor tinkering. I attempted a third recording, where my voice went wandering off into curious keys at times, but at the end, it couldn't find its way back home. So the last little bit of the song, it's just wandering off of the path. Caught in the Still Frame: 19nov2012. You can hear the iterations of this one. That was a few days of tinkering. Lost Balloons: 25august2013. Wrote it in half an hour, then recorded it twice. It felt as easy as Monster did. An effortless break from science. I'd offer more commentary about these songs, but nobody cares.