FAINT WAVES

Slightly out of character for me, I decided to release three loose singles. Typically, I do an A-Side/B-Side style thing or I go the extra mile beyond that and include alternate mixes for sort of a maxi-single approach. With these songs though, they’re just singular, loose Faint Waves songs; these tunes are what I’ve termed “Lost Waves”. Completed songs that were “lost” (unreleased) and never found their way anywhere. They didn’t have a home, they didn’t fit anywhere, so they were shelved. Until now.

Fireflies

Lost Waves, No. 1 is “Fireflies”. Fireflies is a Fleetwood Mac homage that takes its cues from Mirage and Tango In The Night. Folky, plucked acoustic guitars drift atop a bed of breathy, sparkling synths, complimented by an ambient choir of crickets and frogs. The song itself is a mood piece that doesn’t evolve much beyond the first minute, it’s essentially a stretched out sketch or demo more than a proper song. Fireflies, much like the rest of these tunes, came about during the One True World sessions between late 2022 and early 2023. One True World, of course, being a full-length album that would unfortunately never materialize. Fireflies was an early attempt at figuring out a direction to go in, but it just didn’t suit the evolving vision, and so it sat shelved. I didn’t have anything similar to pair it with as a single either, so it was left to languish on the hard drive.

Acid Blue

Lost Waves, No. 2 is “Acid Blue”. Acid Blue has gone by a lot of names, most notably “Deeper Waves”. I instead opted for a more apt title, given the prominent use of the TB-303 in the song. This was one that came together pretty quickly in early 2023 during the One True World sessions, by the middle of the year it was completely finished. It didn’t particularly fit anywhere, it came about during a period when I was listening to a lot of Moby, The Orb, and KLF; it definitely reflects that I think. There was a point when the album (One True World) was leaning very late 80’s and early 90’s, a lot of Trip-Hop and Chillout influence, in addition to the more standard Synthpop and New Age inspiration. Acid Blue could’ve worked in that context, but alas, it never fully materialized that way; the song was simply shelved, until now. It shares elements with prior things I’ve released for sure, but the structure and approach is a little different from anything I’ve put out, a nice change of pace. It’s not some life changing piece of music but it’s one I’m happy to finally have out for sure.

Velvet Star

Lost Waves, No. 3 is “Velvet Star”. Velvet Star has something of a storied history. It began life in 2023 as a remix for a completely different unreleased tune, that will remain unreleased, called “Best Friends”. That track was basically a 90’s big beat joint that was inspired by Fatboy Slim, Groove Armada, and The Wiseguys. It was piano-centric and in the background, featured audio of me and my friends taken from various hangouts and parties that took place close to a decade ago now. When I was working on the maxi-single package for Best Friends, I wanted to do a downtempo remix that was informed by Air’s Moon Safari. The song became so different from a tonal and melodic standpoint, very little of the original track was left, so it spun off into its own song: Velvet Star. I thought about doing an EP along the lines of this sound but never did, so the song sat unreleased, until now. I’m quite a fan of this one, always was. Really glad to have it out there. I think it exists in a happy middle-ground between being an homage and an original.

It’s sort of nice to be “free” of these songs, you know, I can rest easier knowing they’re no longer lingering on old computers and hard drives. The way I produce, there typically isn’t a lot of material that reaches complete or semi-complete, and doesn’t get released. One True World as an album led to a lot of that, because I was taking an anything goes approach and just trying to figure out what stuck. Well, nothing did, so you had songs like this that cropped up and despite any merit they may or may not have had, they simply had nowhere to go. It’s not uncommon for people to release loose singles that aren’t connected to albums or EP’s, so I figured that would be the best course of action for these tunes. Better than just lost to time. It was nice to revisit them, make some final mix tweaks, and master them for release.

Fireflies, Acid Blue, and Velvet Star are available on Bandcamp now. On Spotify, Apple Music, and everywhere else music is streamed and sold by 8/29.