Carol Mae Whittick

View Original

Attraction - Themes & Variations

'Oh, so what kind of music is you do?'

This is the question that any singer should be prepared to answer succinctly, as frustrating as it is to repeatedly hear. 

Music has infinate possibilities for its expression and people like to know who they are talking to.

I understand the request. The need to be categorised and labelled.

It marks the 'From'  point.

Even I do not know where my  'To'  is.

For now the answer is 'Jazz/Soul' although the reverse is probably closer to the mark.

The single version of Attraction is what I now consider to be the definitive version and is a result of luxurious experimentation.

A process that I have never experienced before.

Before working with Christian Fontana my method for recording demos was booking a studio for a day and hoping to get a satisfactory result at the end of it. 

This rarely happened.

Ten hours, which was the average time I had booked, is hardly long enough. 

There are so many factors to consider when you are starting with silence, even if you come as prepared as I always did. 

The most important factor, to me, is the groove of the song.  

Two songs can run with equal beats per minute and yet one can draw you in, get you tapping your feet, clicking your fingers and waiting eagerly for the song to begin. The other can leave you cold. 

When the groove is right the way I play and subsequently sing is affected.

It is the foundation. 

It needs to be right.  

Attraction has travelled through more incarnations than any other song I have written and the song as it is today would not exist if that journey had not taken place for within it exists aspects of all that it has been before. 

What you now hear is a sonic slide show of previous adventures. Postcards from every edge. 

There are intricacies, layers and references that may escape the ears of many but thrill me. Reminders of many moments, some poignant, others humourous. I have tried to explain them but they do not make sense on the page.

I think you had to be there.

Before I shot the video I was nervous about the performance scenes because I am used to having a barrier of my keyboard or at least a microphone but on the day I fell into the music and rode on the elements within it. If they did not exsist I would not have been able to accomplish anything to be proud of.

What grants me the most satisfaction is  the ideas and ideals about my music can be communicated, understood, realised and expanded upon. 

This has been a long, long time coming. 

There are two other versions The Easy Rhodes Mix. A smooth, laid back reworking. 

 and The PianoA Pop/Classical Instrumental.

Enjoy these. 

There is so much more to come.  

 

Love Yourself!

Cx

Thanks for reading.

Please share. ;)