Next year’s CD wasn’t one I was too proud of, although it did yield one song, “Mythical Haters”, that a lot of people seemed to like.  At some point I’ll rerecord 5 of the songs on it and release as a downloadable folk EP. We’ll see what happens. I recorded it using a netbook and a guitar.  I’m not much of a folkie, but it was a good experience to make that determination.

This year, I went back to the way I usually put my songs together.  I was going back and forth about participating, because I had a lot of upheaval in my personal life and I wasn’t sure how long I’d need things to settle.  I didn’t do anything at all the first week of February, then just did some half-ass dinking around with a rather weak little synthpop track the 2nd week.  The 3rd week was when I really got down to business.  I recorded this silly little pop track I wrote and sang for my vocal coach back in February, and got around to recording a couple of songs I had written 5 years ago and one I started writing 22 years ago (!).  The rest were thought up on the spot, or pulled from scattered lyrics I had lying around that I decided to finish.  I have to admit, the result this year is a bit half-assed – half the songs are just really poppy and schmaltzy.  But there are three that I really like that I’m sharing elsewhere (and here).

1. 15 Minutes: I started writing this song in college, after I started taking these classes where Carl Sagan’s Universe time line and Joesph Campbell’s Man of 1,000 Faces were being discussed.  Given the era in which the lyrics were written, I decided to keep the musical format to what I had dreamed up at the time, which was Kate Bush meets Depeche Mode.

2. Last of the True Romantics: this song is long and has a lot of self-indulgence.  But I was going for atmospherics more than anything else.  This song was inspired by my dad, so I frankly started grieving during this.  I probably won’t revisit this for a bit.

3.  Tomb Raiding: I’m happy with the music in this.  Lyrics are about a buried queen (Cleopatra).  You can make the rest up as you go along.

I’m going to spend the next month tweaking these and recording new songs to replace the “schmaltzy” ones currently on the CD.  I’ve frankly waited quite a few years to put some of these songs out, and this is the year I’m going to do it.

I’ve also set up an account at bandcamp.com.  They have a lot of really cool tools that allows independent musicians to make their music available to the public, and I wanted to get in with them before they blow up.

Anyway, I’m proud of the tracks I’m showing off on the sites.  You may feel differently, so feel free to listen and comment.  Thanks!

15 Minutes by Helen Sventitsky   (4051 KB)
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Last Of The True Romantics by Helen Sventitsky   (8704 KB)
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Tomb Raiding by Helen Sventitsky   (4565 KB)
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