Lizh Music

Wow. What can I say? This record is by far one of the most significant milestones of my life. All joking aside, I’ve dedicated every bit of my being to the making of this album.

As you’ll notice from my blogs, a lot of the songs date back a few years with only a handful of them being as recent as the past 3 years. And 3 years ago, I had every piece of this record finished… BUT I always knew it could be more. I didn’t want to release it into the world without its purpose. I’m ever so glad I did wait, because these past three years have been so rich with experience that I was able to implement in the album. It gave it the weight it deserved, gave these songs, these stories of mine, room to become bigger than myself and metamorphisize into emblems of the bit of wisdom I’ve acquired in my young adult life.

It wasn’t just my musicianship that grew; it was my knowledge of the songs themselves. In particular these past three years alongside drummer Eric J. Kelly, taking them out into the world, shaping them, performing them and seeing their place in the world lent me the patience I needed to do this RIGHT.

I have so much to be grateful for. To Eric, for helping me re-discover my love for them and being the other “parental guardian” as I took these pieces into the world; to all the members of my band whom have made their mark on them and brought out sides in these pieces that I could have never seen on my own; to my manager Omar, whom helped me refine my identity as an artist and therefore enhancing my approach to my work; To Edwin Mitchell, for allowing me to grow while embracing my musical multiplicity and teaching me things I never knew; To Jeff McIntyre, for dreaming bigger than I was ever capable of; To my family, for harnessing the woman, the musician and the freedom it takes to be both; and most importantly, to every person who has listened to my work and took it into their hearts, embraced it and encouraged me to continue to channel the universe through my eyes.

No other record will bare the same significance, and because of this record, the foundation for all my future work is stronger than I could ever hoped it would be.

Thank you for taking this journey with me. I look forward to the next horizon in our path.

I love this piece. It consists of two songs, written about a year or so apart: Whirlwind & You Say.

I feel like when we are embracing a change or an epiphany that brings us sadness (for example, the love of your life doesn’t love you no more :’( or never did u_u) there’s a cyclical mourning period that takes place. It happens over and over again in your heart until you finally embrace the change and all its implications and then voila… enter the new stage of your life.

That’s why the song/s loop/s (put it/them on repeat, and see what I mean…). It’s starts with the rain, the tears, the painful sobs, the deep breaths, the “Whirlwind” of emotion. As the storm passes and gives way to that quiet where the wind carries the silent prayers of our hearts, we almost seem to plead with life. Reasoning and reasoning and brooding and brooding and questioning… always questioning until it leads us back to tears… to the storm.

This song is very very special for me and represents times where I embraced this cycle and wrapped my hands in those bootstraps and kept it moving. And as I wrote in “Why”, “Everyone fights alone,” thus, I made this the only solo piece on the album.

This is the only co-write on the album and another one of those tunes that started out as a poem… dates back to High School (yikes! o_o ). I was about 16/17 years old and going thru that “I-don’t-quite-understand-my-place-in-the-world-and-it-frustrates-me” thing adolescents go through. Lol… So in actuality, the song is directed to myself and in my self-reflection, questioning the world. What I love the most about this tune is the energy it brings forth: angst, rebellion and the questioning of authority… And all of it protecting the vulnerability that comes with questioning yourself and the world around you. =] Ya. No way could I leave this song on the shelf… and besides… IT RAWKS! >:D

This song was so much fun to put together. It was the first time I embraced my love for Reggaeton in my work. Also the first attempt ever at rapping (hush. Tell no ones.) =] Plus, I love songs that are introspective, but I also love those tunes that celebrate life. We all like to go out and celebrate the freedom of the weekend, fall in love on the dance floor, and let loud music carry us away.

Since I LOVE rhythm (what Latin person doesn’t? I went with Reggaeton because you HAVE to move when you hear it… laced it with some flamenco guitar, mm-hmm. >:) And the cool thing about that Spanish/Gypsy guitar is that it shares the same scale as Arabic music, and Arabic music tends to be poly rhythmic so… it was just the perfect elements to tie togeva!

Whew! Ok. I’m music-nerded out. :p

Ah, yes. The Succubus >:D This is another one of those songs that started out as a poem. I had erotica on the brain, as I do from times to times and wanted to create a caricature of what eroticism means to me. And to me, NOBODY embodies mysterious sensuality like a vampire. Now I know technically the Succubus isn’t exactly a vampire, but she’s more than that… she’s a sex-pire. Haha! I mean you have the element of vampirism only it’s strictly sexual and so I ran with it. It started with entertaining the idea of alliterating the word “Succubus”… “just hush and rush, please touch much plus, succulently sucking the Succubus is just… oooh you knew to do the wooing but I… Succubus, must lust succinctly or be dust.” Woot! It just sounded sooooo sexxxy to me! >:D The poem quickly married itself to the groovy jazz chords I put togeva and voila.

This song has become so important to me, though I did not suspect it would upon first writing it. It began as a challenge and a little perverse fun, but I’ve discovered that I love it. For me, it’s a celebration of that demoness of lust in every woman, often suppressed for the sake of goodliness. That’s not to say we should all be Succubi all the times. But I am someone who passionately believes in all forms of personal freedoms and sexual expression is a BIG part of that. It is in moments of lust when we are the most naked… TRULY naked. No matter who we try to be in our everyday, who we really are has nowhere to hide when we’re… giggity.

It’s a perfect title for this song because it turned out to be much more than I imagined. The concept is simple… get out of my life, it’s OVA! Lol

I remember going back and forth a lot, trying to find that perfect vibe. Tried it as a rock song… blah. Didn’t work. Then as a neo-soul tune… nope. Not there either… so I went with embracing the ever so Spanish progression it shares with Alone Together and bring out the Latin flare… ahh. Now we’re getting somewhere. :p Then Robbie added that roll to the beat and wow. The song finally had the fire and zest I was lookin’ for!

This tune is all sexxxy. >:D (Not quite Succubus, lol, but sexxxy). I wrote it a couple years back in NYC. This is another one of those dichotomy tunes. No matter how much you love/want someone, no one ever truly belongs to you, so we always have to be prepared to let them go. In this tune, this realization comes forth durin’ the…. Giggity. ;D

Which is why I wanted to make this song as funky as possible. Will’s bass playing really gets a chance to shine. He’s staccato for most of the tune, placing the notes perfectly in place and yet keeping each line fresh and unpredictable. I also love the way Robbie danced about on the ghost notes, mirroring the vibe of the bass, but establishing a groove of his own. Luis just has a killer instinct for the mood a solo should take, I love letting him do his thing over different grooves just to hear what his fingers will do next.

I remember recording the vocals for this song. The vocal booth is isolated save for the window facing E’s sound board. I like recording vocals in the dark so that I’m consumed by the audio… and for this song, I really tried to go back to that moment I realized I had to let him go. …Giggity.

Don’t you worry, Mama:

Haha. Dis song is just plain funz. It actually started out as a Spoken Word piece I wrote around the same time as Bent. And like Bent, didn’t put it to music til much later. See, I became a Kakalakian Transplant in ’07. I have always had the “Don’t you worry, Mama” poem in the back of my mind, knowing I wanted to put it to music, but no song idea ever felt right. 3 months of North Carolinian livin’ and BAM!

I think my favorite thing in here was the “Motown girls” vocal arrangement E added and watchin’ Luis rock the guitar with his bottle neck slider. =] Pretty bad ass.

When I wrote this song, I had no idea it was going to evolve the way it did. Actually I wrote the lyrics when I was 19 (whew!), but didn’t write the music til a few years ago. I heard the piano part in my head, but couldn’t play it at the time I wrote the lyrics.

The method was exactly the same as Alone Together, band then Lance. I’m truly happy we did it this way because it gave Lance the freedom to play with the production. The bass line set the mood back to the fifties, which was way cool (go Will! >:D). Lance sealed it in with the piccolo hits and the strings… tho I GOTTA say that my fav thing about the production on this song is the Wurli. XD OMGosh B’gosh it’s so cool.

Usually, I like to do my own vocal arrangements, but E is the BAWMB at vocal arrangements. That’s another one of my fav things about this recording. The call and answer in the second verse… The Oohs and Ahs in the chorus  *Le Sigh*

This is my favorite song on the record. =] It’s also the oldest one and one of my first songs ever. It was inspired by the dichotomy that exists in those long term relationships where the presence of your partner becomes so commonplace, it no longer feels like you’re sharing a life with someone. Man, I tell you, this song gets me every time. (The Spanish version is pretty intense too!)

Laying it down in the studio was such an amazing experience. We did a few things differently than in rehearsal. I was able to conduct the band while they laid down the music. Robbie added wonderful tension with the drums, making it feel militaristic and withdrawn at first then let loose at the end for that explosive ending. Will balanced this beautiful tug-and-pull with his arpeggios and hard driving the rhythms folded into Robbie’s drum rolls. Luis had the most freedom and added so much of the sorrow that went with the tension. That’s why I couldn’t resist letting him preface the song with his improvisation. Q didn’t record live with the guys, but managed to seamlessly groove with everyone… it was impressive to watch!

Lance added his work after the initial recording and took it to another level. I mean, I lost it when I heard his first draft! His string lines and those cool ambient sounds that he placed really brought all that sorrow and tension home. Lol, I remember how he prefaced it before he let me hear it… and the “OMG, you GOT it!” exclamation that came afterwards.

Yoss. :p Defs my fav tunes on da record.

Wanna check out the song? <=D  —–>