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Join us as we walk through the inspiration and process behind writing music and lyrics for our song "Spring Blossom."
Setting out on our second collection, we knew we wanted to sink into a genre we've explored in past music projects; perhaps to boost some confidence between us and our fledgling music partnership. Seeing “English Weather” (our first collection) as a test of our compositional chops, “Milestone” would hopefully pass muster amongst those more familiar with some of our singer/songwriter work. Folk music instantly came to mind, partly due to my comfort in writing songs featuring finger picked acoustic guitar, but also because of its deep roots in lyricism and storytelling.
Around the time Pat and I kicked off our writing process (mid 2020), my wife, Carley, gave me the news that we were expecting our first child, Lennon (holding her first ice cream cone in the title image). I felt it the perfect opportunity to surprise Carley with a song inspired by our general anticipation, and our collective journey approaching parenthood. So I started writing “Spring Blossom” with a loose acoustic strumming pattern to help bring out some melodic vocal ideas. The first two phrases flooded from me, “We’re having a baby, no she’s not asking. Hope I’m prepared for all your tiny dancing.” It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, implying that my wife forced us to conceive; the sentiment however leans closer to the idea that her desire to bring life into the world overrode any other desire past or future. Throughout the entire pregnancy, our Lennon moved and kicked with some major force; lo and behold she has that rhythm and contagious energy that I predicted (you should see her dance to Dua Lipa).
After recording those phrases followed by some stream of conscious scratch vocals, I shared a short demo with Carley and immediately followed with a simple proposition: we sing it as a duet. It only seemed natural, for reasons I’m sure I don’t need to elaborate on. Plus she has a beautiful voice with a clean, tight vibrato; I was curious to know how our timbres would blend as it was something we hadn’t explored yet in our partnership.
Once I have some vocal melodies plotted, I tend to jump back to instrumentation and overall structure. Wanting to branch out, I performed a mandolin picking pattern as a through-line for the entire song. I could sense this one veering toward country influences with a walking bass line and a straight drum pattern, so I chose to keep the verses rather open with a heavy foot stomp on each beat. That richer chorus ended up following both the second chorus and bridge (in song structure), and it brings some needed energy mirroring the prospect of us having a child. From there, I fleshed out all of the choruses with some rhythm guitar and a flute-like synth to float the mood. Oh and can you hear Lennon's ultrasound heartbeat in the intro? I added a chorus effect to make it somewhat more musical and it drones throughout the entire song.
Touching on the chorus vocal melody, I must have iterated on it for two weeks. The second phrase melody behind, “She’s no ordinary fruit” is one of my favorites of the past few years. It has a quick dip, to a pleasant four note ascending pattern, ending with a perfect fifth interval back to its starting point. It may sound especially intriguing due to the minor over major tonality; essentially the underlying chord is a C Major, and I framed the melody around an E minor chord (or included a major 7th and 9th of C Major). It ends up having somewhat of a jazz appeal, or something classic and timeless. I tried to write lyrics just as classic and poetic to match the accompaniment, which I’ll share now:
Spring Blossom. She’s no ordinary fruit. Pick the pome from the tree; our baby.
The general imagery I was trying to invoke was a pear tree in spring; “pome” meaning pear in this case, and nodding toward the fact that Lennon was due to be born early April. She is our spring blossom, and she is a wonderfully curious soul. We’re so privileged and overjoyed to have her in our lives, and I’m especially excited to share her theme song (LOL) with her when she’s a bit older.
“Spring Blossom” is supported by two other analogue, folky, acoustic songs. “Taking Flight” is a joyous celebration with a bit of introspection mixed throughout. “Passage” focuses on darker themes, with a powerful cello lead in the bridge. All three of these songs are incredibly different but seem to perfectly encapsulate the theme, “Milestone.” Listen for yourself, and let us know what you think. And if you’ve recently experienced a larger life event, whether positive or negative, remember that music can always help in the celebration or in supporting your mood.
