Counting Sheeple

Well another song under my belt. Fishing for Birds is almost done and I can move onto my next project.

Counting Sheeple has a long history. I have a facebook post from May 2011 that mentions trying to mix Power Electronics and Pop, so I've had the idea for that joke for at least that long. I think the GarageBand file originates from a similar date (but I don't trust that since it says all my songs are from that date). The notes file says that I started the lyrics in October 2017, but I think that might have been a new file  (especially since I reposted the status in like May 2017) after copying old lyrics from my ipod, so the absolute start date could've been a year earlier, while I was in Ethiopia. 

I had the lyrics done for a long time but it wasn't until recently that I actually committed to them, with some rearrangement of the verses to make the story flow better. They're clunky. The meter sort of works but the stress is all wrong (and the meter didn't work well with many melodies anyway). They're cringe. I'm bearing my heart in the worst of post-adolescent "poetry".

Counting Sheeple is part of my autobiographical trilogy on this album, along with Indian Summer Love and Fishing for Birds (Liminoid Abyss fits there too, but it was an impulse song and kind of different than these other three). In a way, it's the twin of Indian Summer Love and not just because of the bad pun (suck it Origami Angel! I've been pulling this since y'all were in middle school. Maybe, since I don't know their actual ages). Indian Summer Love was me processing the grief of a breakup, by focusing on my bad feelings. On how I felt betrayed, not just by Her but by myself. It's a song about self loathing and how relationships can make you feel bad. Counting Sheeple is also a way of grieving that relationship, by remembering that it really wasn't all that bad. That We did love and care for each other.

Counting Sheeple is about the summer of 2014, which was an important time for me. Each verse is based on a real story, a vignette of my life. Most of the moments weren't even that important, I doubt She remembers many of them at all. Just little memories that brought me joy (and even though I'm long over that relationship, still can bring a smile to my face). Even the conspiracy theme comes from the fact that Our relationship was sort of secret. It was Our conspiracy. Plus the idea of two people being involved in some sort of massive conspiracy but not focusing on it at all was funny to me, so I ran with it.

I couldn't figure out a good melody. This is always my problem, which is part of why I tend towards spoken word or rap or shouted vocals. I eventually decided that a good melody didn't matter that much. It's a power electronics song after all. The pop part comes from the lyrical content and the fact that there is an order to all my different synths. It's not just a wall of noise. There's a certain prettiness to it, even if it's 90% ugly.

I designed the lead, bass and "siren" a long time ago. It was only recently that I added in the pad, mostly for more fuzz and static. I'm pretty happy with how they all turned out, noisewise. As I said to my brother, I was really pushing GarageBand to its noise production limits. I made the bass too low. It's so sub-bass that I don't even think a massive subwoofer can produce much outside the chorus. That's what I get for not thinking about frequencies. It's so noisy though through the overtones (is that the right word?) so it's not like the bass is useless. It probably just isn't as felt and overpowering as I wanted it to be on a physical level. The initial chord progression I had on the lead was cool, I sort of messed it up when I had to extend the length of my verses. But it's power electronics, so that's sort of the point? The siren was whatever. Probably could have made it better, but it did fill out the upper range of the spectrum which is good. 

I pushed the vocals too far to the front (though I didn't brick the song, lol). Probably too understandable at this point for something so cringey and amelodic. I like the sound design on the vocals. Lots of feedback and static and noise, but not so much to make them totally ununderstandable. With a better singer and an actual melody the vocals might have turned out really well.

Really happy about the bridge. I counted (up to 29) and completely distorted the vocals to make something almost rhythmic and so so heavy. I then through in some super processed drums to add an extra punch. Originally it was a loop but I decided against that. Part of the no rhythms part of the song. 

Counting Sheeple is about a Jacob long gone. It's an artifact. But it's an artifact that I'm glad to have dug up, cleaned up and put on display. I'm glad to open up, in a way. To no one in particular (and in a very Jacobian, very obscure way) but more open nonetheless. Indian Summer Love is a lot more open with what it is about and why I felt that way. But this, this is good too.