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 women & meth 
Women & Meth (Reprise)

After the completion of Fragility, I knew I had to find a way to conclude the series of songs.  I knew it had to have a sense of closing.  I was having difficulty in finding the sound and molding the feeling of how I wanted it to end.  Initially, I began experimenting with synth strings arrangements on the software that I recorded Women & Meth (Intro) with.  I was having mixed feelings with the results, as I was having trouble moving further with the music, yet I did not want to totally abandon the work that I had done. 

After taking a break from the music for a period of time, I decided I was going to take a different approach and revisit the first song that I had recorded.  I listened to Women & Meth (Intro) a number of times and it made sense to me that a reprise would be a great way to bring it to a conclusion.  By doing this, I was able to revisit musical themes that had already been established, yet bring new variations to the same piece.

I began to experiment with the recording; adding new layers, altering the foundations, extending it, changing the key of the bass (which in turn changed the tone of the song).  I changed the bass melody mid-way through the song, which also really changed the flavour of the song.  An interesting comment was made when I played both the Intro and Reprise together to a listener.  They felt that the Reprise had a more uplifting sound when compared to the Intro.  I was glad to hear that, as I felt that is how it should be after the musical journey that we have taken with Jill and her story. 

As I had mentioned above, I had begun with synth strings arrangements at the beginning of my writing process, which I felt was not quite capturing what I was aiming for.  I managed to incorporate some of this work by adding a layer of strings later in the song, bringing a new dynamic to the material.  However, I was still left with the original arrangement that I felt I could not abandon.  I decided that I would include it at the end.  Near the end of the song, the music begins to fade out.  Right at the point where the sounds are about to be muted, a new rhythm begins to fade in, which in turn is part of the original string arrangement that I had worked on.  I feel that the strings managed to capture a feeling of flowing between melancholic and uplifting. 

As a final note, it also brought a somewhat cinematic feeling of closing, which I found really complimented Patricia’s movie posters.  

© 2017 Pauline Sameshima