"Hummingbird Sessions," Track-by-Track
I was a fan of music before I ever started writing and performing. That is something I have always wanted to keep in my head since I started. As I progress, I continue to refer back to the fan in me and think about what I like to see from my favourite artists. It has been just over a month since the release of my first solo EP titled "Hummingbird Sessions," so I thought I'd do a little track-by-track to give you a little background. I encourage you to listen to each track as you read! www.rumcuillin.bandcamp.com
1. Something To Be Said
I wrote this song about 10 months ago in my backyard in Markham. I had been messing around with the A - C#m - Bm - E chord progression for a while and found it had a beach-y, uplifting feel. The lyrical content is complete self-reflection and I guess in a way, as I was writing this song I was just realizing these things about myself that I may have never put to words before. A lot of my songs could be construed as if they were written about someone else (and a few of them are), but most of the time it is internal dialogue.
2. heart..
This was a tough track to write. I wanted it to be a succinct, raw song about that awkward "finding yourself again" stage after falling out of love. "Caught between the deal and the cost," was really me realizing, "I'm no good to anyone if I can't be happy with myself." - Something I think is kind of hard to see when you are in the thick of it. I decided to try a different writing process than I am used to and wrote the lyrics before the music, originally intending it to be a poem or song skeleton until I could hear a melody. I had been listening to a lot of Keaton Henson at the time and was extremely intrigued by his stripped down, dismal guitar parts in combination with his fervently honest lyrics. Naturally, his powerful delivery was a huge inspiration for this song and the emotion I was trying to convey. Listen for the special guest appearance by the Haliburton Lake Crickets in the outro.
3. Why You Loved Me
I spent 7 days in a quaint little bunkhouse on Haliburton Lake with my ukelele, a guitar, 1 decent condenser mic and a tiny spider named Lewis. It was Day 3 and I was sitting by the water listening to "Two Kids" by Strand Of Oaks on repeat. Struck by the organic production of the song, I wrote out the first few lines of the chorus and headed back into the bunkie to expand on the words I had written. I already had the melody for the chorus in my head and the title of the song. This was definitely one of those songs that just sort of wrote itself. The lyrical content is blatant and gloomy but full of truth. A very observant friend I once had brought up the idea that when you first start a relationship with someone, you are both overly aware of each others actions as well as your own (coined the "Honeymoon Phase"), but as time passes you can get too comfortable in the relationship and rely on "Oh we've been together this long, what could go wrong?" You start to get desensitized as to what may be a deal-breaker for you, until one day it blows up. This song is about the aftermath of that.
Thank you for reading/listening! Make sure you grab a copy of the free EP here! www.rumcuillin.bandcamp.com
All the best, Rùm Cuillin
