Background
I wrote ‘Isolation’ in late March 2020 just as Covid lockdowns were becoming widespread. Even at that early point in the pandemic, I had a feeling it would not be over and done with as quickly as most people expected, although nobody could have imagined how long it would extend for.
For the previous two months, I was rehearsing as drummer with Taii Ochida’s band, but once lockdown happened, practice studios were closed and musicians were confined to home like everyone else. Hence the Taii Ochida band project was put on ice at the time.
My conceptual theme for the song was to have a male and female vocal lead, each expressing their own character’s views about the Covid situation. I asked Taii if she would sing the female lead part, and I’m very grateful that she agreed.
BackFoot regular lead vocalist David Zalinian was traveling when lockdown kicked in, and became stranded between Russia and Armenia during the remaining months of 2020. After searching unsuccessfully for a replacement singer in Budapest, I eventually turned to my old friend and former bandmate back in Ireland, Trevor Moran, and similarly I’m grateful he agreed to sing the male lead vocal.
** YouTube video of Isolation can be found at the end of this blog post article **
Lyrics
In the first verse, both the guy and girl characters give their thoughts on how they see the world outside, in relation to Covid.
In the second verse, their respective thoughts turn to how they miss personal and physical contact, and they express to each other, how they imagine being together and what they imagine doing.
The background implication in the lyrics is that the pandemic is just the Covid manifestation of how people’s lives are anyway less about personal interaction, and more about social networks and virtual interaction, as technology has developed.
Music
The song’s time signature is a standard four-four-time, but I thought the song would be way too boring by having a static four-four drum rhythm pattern all the way through. So, in the verse parts, I played an 8th note rhythm pattern on the floor tom (which would normally be the hi-hat accompaniment), with a double bass drum note on the ‘one’ of every eight-bar phrase. On top of that I just filled some rack-tom hits and cymbal crashes with my left hand, in timing with the eight-bar bass drum notes. This created a more broken, atmospheric, almost ‘jungle vibe’ effect.
In the bridge section, I wanted a more urgent transition to match the intensity of the vocals. So I used only runs, fills, and cymbal crashes, with emphasis around the vocals.
The chorus is essentially guitar solos and fills. Here the drum pattern is a straight four-four groove, with 8th notes on the ride cymbal. I also added fills and cymbal crashes as needed.
Overall it gives a musical progression something like:
Tense, broken ‘jungle-vibe’ / dynamic, urgent transition / flowing chorus with soaring guitar.
First basic recording
I practiced playing notes for the rhythm patterns of the song, on a small midi-synth I have at home. I arranged with an independent studio engineer who I had worked with previously, to go to his studio and lay down some basic tracks. I brought my drums as well.
I tapped out the music progression on the midi-synth, and the studio guy played acoustic guitar over it, to have an acoustic guitar track instead. Then I sang (if I could call it singing 😊) the lyrics to give the lyrical progression. Afterwards, I played the drum parts, and finally the studio guy added some electric guitar parts.
With all parts recorded, the basics of the song were in place.
Band rehearsals
A full band was needed to make the full studio recording. I asked a guitarist, keyboard player, and bass player from another band I had been playing with, and they agreed to join for the recording. We began practicing as a five-piece (practice studios were open again as lockdown restrictions started to be relaxed).
Trevor is based in Ireland and couldn’t join us in person, so Taii sang both the male and female lead vocals in rehearsal.
Studio recording
The final studio recording was done over two days in April 2021. By then Trevor has already sent me his MP3 and MP4 of his vocal parts. On the first day, we recorded the drum tracks, using the earlier rough recording as a backdrop.
On day two, Taii, along with the guitarist, keyboards, and bass player, joined in the studio. All subsequent tracks were recorded, again using the previous rough recording as a guideline, and this time having the drums fully recorded from the previous day.
The studio engineer and producer added Trevor’s MP3 vocals as a track in the mix. The studio guys also recorded a video for use as the official video of Isolation. Trevor’s MP4 was merged into the video.
In the following two or three days, the first mix was complete. I went back to the studio once after that, to work on some small adjustments to the mix. We also made some editing to the video, including adding the BackFoot artwork, and aligning the images with the music.
After all final edits and remixing, the final studio master was made.
Official release
I officially released Isolation on YouTube and on the BackFoot Facebook page in mid-June 2021.
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