FAINT WAVES

I just released a new LP, it’s my second so far, and my first in over 7 years. Let’s be kind and rewind, shall we? 7 years ago, I released a messy but well-intended full length album, that album was Great Blue; Great Blue was an uptempo, diverse melange inspired by Piano House classics, late 80’s Dance Pop, Post-Disco, and more. It was bright and colorful, amateur-ish in places, but an enthusiastic celebration nonetheless. Now, fast forward 7+ years. Aqua Blue is here and while it has very little in common with Great Blue (even the similar title was a complete accident), the two releases do have one thing in common: hope. Great Blue was optimistic and hopeful. It was indicative of a mindset I had back in 2019, I’ve always had my ups and downs but I was looking toward the future with bright eyes and I felt very good about what was to come. I’ve been trying to get that back ever since, if this record is any indication, maybe there’s still hope. Maybe it never went anywhere, maybe you’ve got to look a little harder for it is all. 

Somehow, out of the blue (pun intended), I managed to focus and put this album together. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped and started a full length album in the last 7 years, I even had a mildly expensive (but very nice) art piece produced for an album cover a few years back (it will get used one day, my apologies sØlar, you’re a great artist). Projects of a certain scope and length, I tend to struggle with them. I’ve been very open about how I struggle mentally sometimes, that’s a big one, my focus just isn’t always there. I can be easily overwhelmed, impulsive, and prone to shifts in mood and emotions, which naturally causes problems in more areas of my life than just my music. Even so, Aqua Blue came together, and I think it had been waiting in the wings for a while. I say that because one of the songs is over 5 years old and it very much informed the overall sound of the LP. The rest of the songs are more recent; a couple are from sessions that began earlier this year (for a collaborative FNM-inspired effort with my friend Bart Graft that never quite came together and a sequel to Amore Mio Dolce that never quite came together either) and the rest were newly made for the album proper. When it was finished, it felt fully realized, like it had been building up and was just waiting for the right time to come together. 

The tagline for the album is “Hope. Speed. Passion. Power.”, because I wanted to emphasize what the album stands for and I believe those things are reflected in the sound and direction of the album as well. The songs are energetic and by Faint Waves standards, they’re fairly “heavy” too, very punchy. The music is often lush, bright, dreamy, and anthemic. There’s a strong sense of atmosphere but also driving melody and percussion, with more emphasis on piano and drums than I typically incorporate into my music. It’s no one clear cut genre but it incorporates elements of Synthwave, Eurobeat, Smooth Jazz, even Metal and Hardcore, among others. The album was informed by many things during its production; Top Gun, Robotech, Gundam, Star Fox, Initial D, F-Zero, and more. I’ve described it as the Top Gun soundtrack meets 90’s/00’s video game music and that really is the most succinct way to put it, if not in sound, in spirit. I tried to channel jets, blue skies, fast cars, seaside cityscapes, and Dreamcast/Gamecube/early PS2 games. It’s music for majesty, movement, and momentum. For flying high, chasing dreams, and breaking barriers. It’s a sky-bound daydream teeming with electric intensity. Bright keys percolate and crescendo, slap basses clack and thud, and lush synth pads carry you away to distant lands; like I say on Bandcamp, “there’s nothing but blue sky, crystalline water, and endless sunshine”. I wanted to evoke and illustrate that sonic picture, that’s where Aqua Blue lives.

To circle back to what I said at the beginning, hope is the answer and it never went anywhere, I just had a harder time seeing it for a while. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t pretend like I have anything figured out. In fact, the older I get, the harder the questions become. I don’t really know what’s going on or what’s happening, I don’t always understand myself, life, the world, or people in general; I just know I’m trying to do the best that I can. Sometimes that’s not enough, sometimes I come up short, but I’m trying. That’s all most people are doing I think. You have to hope that’s enough. Like I said, I don’t have the answers. I’m searching though, looking, striving. I don’t know if I’ll ever know peace or contentment, if such things are truly attainable by the mortal man. I don’t know if I’ll ever be satisfied, no matter what I learn, how I change, what I acquire, who I’m with, or what I do. What I do know, is that I’m lucky, I’m lucky to still be here. I’m lucky to have the good days, I’m lucky to have the bad days, and I’m lucky to still be doing this because this is it; music is it. As long as I’m here, my principal reason for being is music. As a listener, as a producer, as a person. I don’t always have the perspective to see it but as long as there’s music, there’s hope, and hope is the answer. Keep on fighting, keep the dream alive, and never give up hope. No retreat, no surrender.

Aqua Blue. Out now on Bandcamp, YouTube, and streaming everywhere else by next Friday, 9/25. Listen to it, enjoy. OR if you want to listen to the album with me and have a chat for half an hour or so, I’ll be doing a listening party over on Bandcamp, here’s a link to that. Let me know if there’s any interest in a deluxe physical release as well, I toyed with the idea of doing a really nice, short run of CD’s featuring two bonus tracks; all the designs are done and I just have to pull the trigger and put it into production, so let me know.

Thank you for reading and godspeed to everyone, everywhere.

~ FW.