Yes it’s another song about weather!
I have a morning routine with my Amazon Echo, where it rattles off weather and my horoscope for the day. We’re in the heat of Pittsburgh summer, so most days the report is “lots of sun and thunderstorms.”
I do love a good thunderstorm. It’s impressive how quickly thick clouds can roll in and overtake the sky. The low rumble of thunder is thrilling, bright streaks of lightning exciting. I love standing safe and dry at my balconette window, watching rain pour down in sheets while people on the street beneath go running for cover. That’s how suddenly it can sneak up on you. Of course, there were signs all along, if I paid attention to the forecast.
This demo has lots of subtle nods to the darker shades of music that influenced my teens and early twenties. Hi-hats like white noise static, relentless like NIN or Kidneythieves. Half step whimpers in the melody like Evanescence. Chromatic mediant twists of harmony in the bridge like my favorite sci-fi scores. A whole step modulation like all the best power ballads.
I’ve heard it said that it takes seven years for all the cells in you body to turn over and be replaced, so it’s like you have a whole new body every seven years. I started this website and solo project when I was 28 years old; at the beginning of my fifth body I suppose. The seven years from 28-35 felt like a time of reconnecting with my inner child, helped along in no small part by dance music and feel-good song requests at Howl. Now 36, I turn my focus towards healing my inner teenager. She was rebellious and fierce in her pursuit of independent expression. She relished in pushing the limits of her values and relationships. She made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of lessons, some which led to hard resolutions out of stubbornness. Looking back there were definitely times that she embarrassed me, but I don’t love her any less for it. Her emotions were big, loud and painful, and so was her music. It’s been incredibly gratifying to be writing heavy music again with friends. I want to explore how I can integrate and bring that side of myself to the songs I make on my own as well. KM
Lightning and Thunder
I thought I knew you
You thought you knew me too
Truth is you do
I’ve been honest
Like frosted window panes
I showed you colours but not the shapes
I can lie to an empty page
But I can’t lie to your face
Now the sky has broken open
Let it rain and wash away our sins
If it soaks us to the bone then something new and real begins
A surprising silver lining
When the world is going under
I’ll bring the lightning
You bring the thunder
You tried to tell me
I tried to second guess
Forget the rumble inside my chest
You fell quiet
But never silent
An angel on my left
I can hide when I feel too much
But I can’t hide from your touch
‘Cause the sky has broken open
Let it rain and wash away our sins
If it soaks us to the bone then something new and real begins
A surprising silver lining
When the world is going under
I’ll bring the lightning
You bring the thunder
The waves we make
Reverberate
Through time and space
And I can hear it
Echoing
A reckoning
It beckons me
It beckons me
Now the sky has broken open
Let it rain and wash away our sins
If it soaks us to the bone then something new and real begins
A surprising silver lining
When the world is going under
I’ll bring the lightning
You bring the thunder