NOTES:

No Hiking After Sunset -
A few month ago I was in an ambient music phase, listening to tons of Sigur Ros and watching Friday Night Lights at the same time. I got really enamored with the idea of being hit with a wall of sound, rather than with a big drop or drums. So I wanted an ambient intro with no percussion. And for the first time in a Monsoon song, an uplifting melody with the guitar.

Saturn's Return -
I was so psyched about this track when I first started it. I was heavily inspired by RL Grime's Reims when it dropped and I wanted a big future bass drop, but when I made my own version it felt so empty. I experimented with including vocals, dubstep drowls, shit I even put little clips of Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid in the breaks, but it was still so underwhelming. So, I did what the only logical thing in my head was: mic up the guitar, and jam over the song. I only have an acoustic guitar at home, so I initially layed down the guitar riffs with an acoustic guitar and added tons of effects to make it so distorted through my software. I was surprised how kick-ass it sounded so that became the lead for the entire song. And shout-out to my jersey club people, I teased a little jclub beat in here for fun. My hope is that this one sounds massive live and in headphones.

Black Skies & Bloody Eyes -
This song came together in about a day and a half. Once I created the heavy synth in the drop the entire song basically wrote itself around that sound. I originally was going to drop Saturn's Return as the first song from the EP but when I finished this one I knew it would be a great intro to this entire body of music.

Nowhere -
Nowhere is the song that never wanted to get finished. If you've been listening to my Monsoon project for the last year and a half, you have undoubtedly heard about 10 different iterations of this song. This was the first song I started for this EP and the song that took the most time to finish. It started as dubstep, I slowed it down to electro house (which you can hear in my Flying to Montreal Mix), then it became a jungle terror song (and I was so close to releasing that version because Greene T did a great master for me), then I slowed it down some more to moombahton, then I ultimately settled on this 'jungle house' vibe and kept moombahton for the second drop. This was an experiment in using multiple tempos, chopping up TONS of chanting samples, switching out about 50 snares and incorporating a Linkin Park vocal (sort of). If you listen closely and you are a huge Linkin Park fan, you may notice the reverb tail throughout the song probably sounds familiar. Regardless of the painstaking process, I think this is a new vibe for the Monsoon sound, but a fitting one.

White Devil // WYHSB -
This was the last song I wrote for the EP. I had originally recorded an all-acoustic cover of 'When Your Heart Stops Beating' by (+44) and was going to use it as a sort of interlude/break from all the electronic sounds, sort of like my Transatlantacism cover from the Sessions EP. But when I made that bass synth, I knew I had to make a song around it. Dark, aggressive, thick: this is the definition of Monsoon.

Homesick (for a Place I've Never Been) -
My first official collab and final EP track. Palms is a good friend of mine, we've played shows together, gone B2B at my house more times than I can count, gone to shows/festivals together, so it only seemed natural to do a project with him. Our first attempt at a collab never really worked out and it sounded more like a 'lo-fi chill electronic music to study to on YouTube' than a Monsoon or Palms track, so I'm happy this one is more reflective of an amalgamation of our styles. You can hear the classic Palms arpeggiated synths in the mix, some greatfull chords and of course a heavy growl or two. Really proud of the musical side of this, and the lyrics have a very special meaning to me. Written by Chuck Fay, formerly of State Radio, one of my favorite bands of all time. In the context he wrote them, the lyrics represent a Native American chief being forced off his land by white men claiming manifest destiny and eventually being enslaved and forced to emigrate on the Trail of Tears. I think these three simple lines can apply to anyone tied down by a trouble in their life and I hope it inspires everyone else as much as it inspired me. To hear the original lyrics in context, check out State Radio: Fight No More.