With the mix very close to being finished and the mastering about to begin, plus the artwork on its final stages, here's an album track-by-track for some insight!
“Staring Down On Incandescent Cities” 2023
TRACK-BY-TRACK:
01 Tell Me A Story
A key song and for a while even the album’s working title. Opted to have it both as first single & album opener, to set the pace and statement of what’s to come. It came together very smoothly and was also the first song I gave to Daniel and Amado for their parts. Who of course took it that extra mile! I like how catchy and affecting it is, yet still in a sort of proggy, non-obvious way, with all the changes it goes through and no classical single structure - a thing I anyway naturally avoid in my composition. Like a weaving serpent. I've also assembled a video for it (lyrics + performance).
Hi-lights:
Amado‘s performance throughout (and lyrics). The sick rhythm section work. The touching lead melody two thirds in everyone mentions and the beautiful and soaring ending: acoustic-oriented and highly vocal-harmonized, bringing things home with a whimpered bang.
02 Thunderstorms Of My Youth
Stemmed from experimenting with a lovely off kilter guitar pedal, where I came up with the quirky and very rhythmic articulations that run through the whole track. Love the modern aspect of it, with a big rhythm section backing up all the guitars and synths. Even the erhu made an appearance here, and what an emotive instrument! Probably a remnant of my various Asia travels on the latest years. One of my fave tracks, all falling into its right place and no need for vocals, when each part has killer melodies.
Hi-lights:
Manuel’s tasty, groovy playing, the omnipresent pedal arpeggio trails, the melancholy bridge and the unexpected ending on a high Dorian note and its mad drumming.
03 Blurry Lights & Unfathomable Futures
One of the big, by now trademark SInc loop-based atmospheric songs, originating from a simple, atmospheric guitar pedal fiddling idea. It grew and was thoroughly arranged to the point it reached. Emotional, trip-hoppy and in an odd way darkly sensual too. Vocals came later on …. and It is now one of my absolute favorite tracks, delicately arranged and with a wonderful melancholy and vocal performance - real proud of how this one turned out.
Hi-lights:
The whole ambiance, the big-beat, the ebow, the touching piano melodies, all the “vocal-sample” synth arrangement. And THOSE vocals!
04 Shooting For Stars
Kind of an oddball, just for the sheer direct straightforwardness of it, A heavy rock, almost metal-ish song, with a standard structure and very catchy riff and rhythm. I recall Manuel being quite enthusiastic when I presented the main idea to him, so we jammed a bit and the rest came out quickly. I knew from the very beginning this screamed for vocals, but somehow couldn't find the perfect match, so on a whim I wrote the lyrics in 10 mins - while on holiday in Laos - and as soon as I came back to Berlin, still with an exotic cold! - recorded it all myself, the melodies came automatically. Musician-mates have mentioned Rammstein, Ghost and Gothic… really? Who knows, who cares!
Hi-Lights:
Main driving riff, vocal melodies, the bridge section.
05 Cautionary Pale I: Fire in the Hole
Originally the same song, which by cue of my friend Alex (Scar For Life), during our collaboration in Architects of Rain, I ended up separating in two parts. This first one is driving, electronic, very cinematic, with lots of guitar and synth work and a surprising mid-section. Electronic-laden but still touching.
Hi-Lights:
The dubstep-ish outro, for sure; the general groove, with the unsettling samples and atmosphere.
06 Cautionary Pale II: Next Door to Dark
The album Fanfair! Full-on cinematic heavy rock, with 3 major parts, the first a string-heavy, heavy-rock one, the 2nd a stadium rock groovy riff with a twist (and 2 simultaneous solos) and then the outro, with the African chants in major key… all peppered with dissonances, modulations and impactful drums - and very tongue-in-cheek. A true, orchestrated sample fest.
Hi-Lights:
Sheer balls and creativity, playful character. The transition, with loops and extremely tasty drum work. The different moods accomplished throughout the track.
07 Molecular Sun
A damn catchy, upbeat song. Very rock and melodic and carried by impressive vocals from Amado, which go from playful falsettos to deeper, emotional pathways. I liked the idea of sticking to a main guitar riff idea throughout - except for the bridge, which I spontaneously jammed out with Manuel - and working my way into all the rhythmic dynamics, EDM-ish string arrangements and whatnot. Very epic and driven. Insanely catchy and with a cool, as usual mostly improvised, wah solo.
Hi-Lights:
The vocal work and details, the synths & samples, the fake over-hyped substance-induced upbeat mood. The bass & lead guitar work.
08 On Days Like These
I see it in a way as a sister to “Blurry Lights…”, in that it shares the ambient, loop-based appeal and rich arrangements. A beautifully frail Jazzmaster guitar melody, acoustic guitars holding the rhythm, an ethereal outro with a vocal sample (kudos if you guess who!) and emotionally charged closure.
Hi-Lights:
The bass line, the guitar melodies & textures, the synth arrangements. The sheer deepness and incredible emotion on display along the song.
09 Azul Deveras
Beautiful, melodic, epic rock song. I‘m singing this one in a lonely-robot delivery, on the initial dreamy, atmospheric segment, which then grows into an infectiously epic riff and further on an orgy of dotted 8th delay orchestration, with massive rhythm section work: one of my fave parts of the whole album, in all its incredible energy and straightforward drive. Oh and, Pessoa-fan that I am - apparently I speak Portuguese on a particular transition - one for you out there to figure out what the hell I‘m saying.
Hi-Lights:
The ethereal intro build-up, the following mid-section. Most of all: the epic last third, with all the delay-guitar dynamic, backed by the insane drum/bass groove. The tasty dotted 8th delay work.
10 Curtain Call
A very jammy, laidback track, originally penned by bassist Manuel (a first for SInc!), that he gave me to manipulate and enhance accordingly. Really enjoy how it turned out, with the shuffle-beats, brass, strings, piano, ebow, drums. Kind of a Massive Attack meets 70s jam groove trippy thing. A soundtrack for that never-made 80s neon lit cop flick. It creeps on you slowly and grows to full-on jam assault. This has turned into a definite beast! And I wisely opted out of a jammy OTT solo instead of a more memorable lead.
Hi-Lights:
All the arrangements and flow, the drum beats (that free jazz break-fest at the end!), the cinematic flair and nightly moods, the lead playing and sound, the Sexy Sax, the hypnotic bass mantra.
11 Where Limousines Sleep
Love how this track melts the laid back, atmospheric, nostalgic parts of my music to the (post) rock ending. Again, a very touching, ambient, existentialist track. Melodic throughout and with a melancholy ending piano-led piece.
Hi-Lights:
Piano & mellotron; the general flow and synth lines; the drumming at the end.
12 This Here Life
This stomper had to end the album. It has grown into such a beast…It goes back and forth between detuned guitars on a dynamic heavy rock riff with a wah-lead and a softer section, with a big (earworm alert!) synth melody, with many a-detail in-between. One of the longer tracks, just under the 6min mark. Dark, groovy, infectious, melancholy. Arguably one of the songs more recalling of Vertigo Steps. I‘ve never really seen myself as a singer, even though I‘ve done vocals and/or sang on every release ( ever since I was 19, on the Arcane Wisdom debut!). But this one - and the spontaneous way it was made - leaves me blessed with my increasing easiness for memorable vocal melodies and comfort while singing. Even that processed scream at the end I recorded spontaneous - it‘s no sample. The final climax is one of those unique goosebump moments I‘m more proud of.
Hi-Lights:
The synth melody, the reverse-FX solo, all the heavy rhythms & modulations, the infectious vocal mantra, earworm deluxe, the ending climax.
13 The Mourning After Pt. III (bonus track)
A melody that recurrently comes back to haunt me and that I decided to make the third reincarnation of - after appearing in 2 previous releases - this time bigger and using real drums and vocals (shared by Amado and myself). I love how the inverse structure worked out and how stripped it ends the album. Finishing all and bringing it home on a post-rockier note.
Hi-Lights:
The driving, emotional beginning - and vocals, the dreamy and delicate mid-section and stripped end, the acoustic guitars.
Bruno A., April/23