Analysis:

       “Far Out” serves as the beginning of the true journey of the album. I am purposefully displaying a shifted narratological cycle that begins somewhat far through. The previously resolved conflicts spiral away as a new vibe, a new story enters. This song is characterized by its warped vocals, improvisational lyricism, heavier sound, stronger bass, and tired-feeling drums. The piece was built primarily from one take of bass guitar that eventually was built on top of by other instruments (and finally my voice).

        The song’s genre is blues/rock and shifts between different structures very readily, though the same motif on the bass guitar and electric guitar keeps appearing. The cycle is starting up in a way that is quite new. The blues have not been heard yet in this album, so the shift is even more apparent. The major keys of previous songs have been replaced by a murky Dorian mode (minor). My vocals are also much more haunting and have more delay and distortion added to them.     

        The section halfway through that incorporates the electric guitar into the vocals was accomplished two ways. I played the guitar while I was singing that section, then I added another layer of electric guitar while not singing. This allows my music to sound constructed when I actually am using far less effort than traditional music composition. It takes a lot of effort to get the perfect take, but at least I don’t have to write out every rhythm found in the piece. It also helps that I’m not communicating this musical information to anybody else.

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        Similar to my method concerning instrumentals, the lyrics of the song were actually never written down prior to recording. I improvised lyrics throughout the piece until I felt I had a good take that was thematically relevant. The section below this is perhaps the only time I will have ever thought about the meaning of the lyrics: how exciting!

        The things I say in this piece are very life positive and interested in the world. The first stanza of vocals displays an understanding that the world keeps continuing and that this can be boring. However, the speaker, though sounding exhausted, declares that “…this sunset world is too divine”. This shows that the speaker loves transience and liminal moments. Living is perhaps the most beautiful liminal moment of them all and the speaker sees it. I’ve struggled my whole life with depression, but sometimes you see the whole world laid out in front of you and it is so incredible that you can’t help but love being alive. I wake everyday thanking the universe that I can experience Earth and all its crazy happenings! I’m still emotional and I still feel broken a lot of the time, but you don’t live for the sorrow: you live for the moments of pure bliss sprinkled everywhere. You can find them if you’re aware, “I want to see what you got to give”. This signals that if you want to live, you have to be prepared to become aware. You have to LOVE THE WORLD!

         Unfortunately, it takes only a moment of feeling left out or out of touch and we fall apart. “What am I to do? Baby, you know it’s hard. Sometimes you know it [the feeling of love and eternal, timeless beauty] will be gone a long day…”. Because of that, we play music, we make art, we rail in the face of injustice. We do all of this knowing that we all deserve to be happy. Sometimes, the only way you can do that is by going and doing something that is societally unacceptable. “And so we play the harmonica upon the hillside because it gives us life!”. The hillside in this lyric refers to Denison University: I am playing harmonica openly on a college campus, which will gather more than enough strange looks. I actually spent a lot of time my Sophomore year of college doing exactly that, playing harmonica on the hillside. I was always seen, in a way that always felt visceral. When somebody would glance and look away while passing me, I’d feel a shiver as I considered what they might be thinking. The feeling of being watched never ends for me, especially in the way I choose to be and express my truth in our often toxic society.