Project 45: Déjà vu in Reverse
The theme was dèjà vu and you had to have something in your song played in reverse.
Communists In The Funhouse by June Panic
My initial idea was to describe a character who, after experiencing an absurd series of insanely unlikely events over the course of the song, eventually becomes overwhelmed with a feeling of deja vu, which would act as a sort of punchline because ‘How could all of these things have happened once, let alone twice?’
I thought it would be a jokey thing, something along the lines of Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream. But it turned into something much more abstract. I’m not sure whether the listener, at the end of the song as it is written, will feel they are even in a position to say what exactly these characters have just gone through. Consequently, the punchline is somewhat muted and what stands out instead is the surreal nature of the words and phrases employed: “Hunky Punks”, “Spiderweb Ashtray”, “Knockout Mice”, “Victory Disease”, etc.
Exploiting the looseness of the song’s premise, I deployed several phrases I have recently collected and/or invented. ‘Communists In The Funhouse’, for example, which, according to a Canadian friend of mine, is a euphemism for a woman’s period. Of course, I’m not sure we can trust the Canadians.
I also included a reference to a real life episode of deja vu I experienced when I was 13 years old. I was holding a baby in my arms face to face and began spinning around. I temporarily lost my balance and the baby and I hit our heads together. Immediately, I stopped spinning and, concerned that the baby might be hurt, I said “I’m sorry! Are you ok?” The baby seemed stunned at first, but then looked right at me and, with purpose, bonked my head once again with his forehead. He had decided we were playing a head bonking game and he started laughing.
At that moment, I had the most intense feeling of deja vu I have ever experienced. I was completely convinced that all of this (the baby, the spinning, the room, the hitting our heads together, the baby laughing) had happened to me before. Of course, that was impossible since I had never met that baby or been in that room before. And yet, there was no doubt in my mind I had experienced that exact sequence of events before.
I can only surmise that it must have been the eternal baby whom I met that day, and the eternal bonking of heads which we enjoyed.
Thanks to Jason DeMars for the lead guitar work.
Carousel by Pete Foss
When I think of "Deja Vu", my mind goes to old-timey traveling circuses, carousels and halls of mirrors and that kind of stuff. I had a recent piano riff that seemed like it might fit the theme, and one thing led to another and I went down the rabbit hole. The first two lines of lyrics are sung backwards - otherwise, lyrics are generally inspired by cosmology theories as an explanation for deja vu, and i think I was going for a Ween-ish kind of thing in certain parts. I struggled with mixing this one because of the very different parts, but i'm happy with where it landed. It was a fun project (as always) and I look forward to hearing what every one else came up with!
Command + Z by Daniel Jöst and Kelly Duclos (Paper Dam)
…and over and over by Colby Heston
I chose the concept of a repetitive theme for Project 45 - Deja Vu. There is a backwards eBow track for the constraint. Kind of hard to tell it is backwards since it is an eBow.
"....and over and over again,,,having the feeling you've been here before"
Northeasterly and This Time by Tom Stromsodt
I feel like I am half committed as the lyrics only loosely reference aspects of deja vu and while each track started with a reversed loop idea, they ended up as minor aspects of these songlettes. It was good to write/record/email though. It's been too long since I worked through it all the way from start to finish. Cheers!
Vuja De by the Dirtpops and Andrew Charon
If deja vu is the feeling that you've experienced something previously, then what is the opposite of that? How about vuja de, the feeling that maybe none of what you're experiencing has ever happended before.
We approached this song similar to how we tackled "Comes A Time" for the Neil Young assignment. We alotted ourselves 3 hours to write the song and lay down the initial basic tracks as a foundation. Generally when laying down tracks, we tried to capture everyones first instincts having just heard/learned the song. Lastly we took one evening for mixing and production, in which the song was crafted to it's final form.
The song was written and recorded by the Dirtpops which includes; Andrew Charon, Joe Habiger, Micah Dahl, Nate Stensgard, Shelly & Troy Warling. The majority of the mixing and production was completed by Andrew Charon.
If the music or lyrics of the song resemble something previously created in any way, shape or form it was purely coincidental and should in no way be considered deja vu.........
Vuja De!
Thinkin’ About You by David Cox
This was a fun collaboration, with everyone making this come alive. I had the first line in my head and had been playing around with the chord progression. The mood felt like it fit the theme for this project, and it inspired me to flesh it out and complete the lyrics. Colby, Kelly and I worked on it together at the studio, with Colby playing lead guitar, and Kelly playing drums. Neil later added in bass. Amazed by the their talent and thankful/proud to be a part of it.
Chesterfields by Micah Dahl
GØDS is. Micah Dahl. The name works with many people, from an album with Pete Foss in 2022. To all those who create together with Micah. Staring with a great sample to work from and gather inspiration from is how the idea started. Chesterfields comes from the classic 1993 film True Romance. Brought to screen by great Tony Scott. The sample brings together a scene with Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper. Bass and guitar crafted by Micah, drums were created using a catalogue unfortunately but the piece was a good exercise in getting inspired by something and working from there.
It’s Not Dèjá Vu by Neil Fasen with Tom Stromsodt on drums
I had an idea for a song and recorded some stuff but couldn’t get into it. Then I reverse the bass track for the entire song and discovered something totally different. I quickly riffed on that.
Cottonwood by Kelly Duclos
One thing led to another and this one ended up featuring some forwards and backwards snippets and loops of bits from the end of Long, Long, Long by The Beatles. Thanks, George and the boys.
