Making the Summer EP - Putting it Together


Ok, so the summer EP finally started to come together nicely - I’d lie if i said it was easy though!


First of all, you should never rush this - I mean making an album. But I really wanted to get it out in time for summer - and the songs that have been forming for this album felt really special and perfectly fit in the concept. But they also felt like something that needs crafting to let those little exciting parts to manifest. They are not perfect by any means, if anything, their simplicity and crudity is what I like about them. Something I have been trying to replicate since “Lockdown EP” - so simple, a little rough, but clear and to the point. I suppose overthinking and overdoing were to be avoided here. Hence this time round when recording, I only did some basic mixing on the instrumentals and left them sitting there until vocals were ready to go - so essentially not overpolishing them before the all tracks were in their place. Might sound straightforward but this is not how I used to do it! Why? 


The instrumentals I laid down in a few hours at most for the majority of tracks, however you might remember I have been struggling with lyrics lately - you have to admit it’s not easy writing 5 lyrics about the same topic or vibe in quite a short space of time. In all fairness, the first couple came relatively easily and they felt right too, but some songs I just know will be difficult to write lyrics for. And the last one was just not giving it. Perhaps it is one of the least summery-sounding one of all and I have been fixated on summer themes so much, the two just didn’t meet. So I went and tried to look for some inspiration and stumbled across a previous demo, one of the very first ones for “Eternal Allies” from July 2021, which I have been told at the time was a textbook summer song. So I thought - shall I swap them or keep both? So I’ve reached out to one of my trusted friend, Petya, to help me decide almost already knowing what he would say. Of course keep both. Great, so now there were two needing lyrics haha!


But after a few days sweating blood trying to find the right images and words, both were finally done, this time again trying out some new tricks (more on that in another post) right before a bank holiday weekend, so that I could do a few vocal sessions without having to spend a good hour or so per day just to warm up. I suppose a little pressure does indeed help, but there is a fine line after which it can become contra-productive and create a creative block.


So now all is almost done, just a few tweaks here and there before I would need to upload the songs to the distributor - due to shortness of time I might not overdo it. Fingers crossed. It’s all about finding the balance, right? Besides, summer seems to be taking it’s time to arrive this year anyway.

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