Theoretical Girl - Divided
Theoretical Girl tells us about the inspirations behind her debut record.
Theoretical Girl released her debut album ‘Divided’ through Memphis Industries last week (pick it up here), and even held a nice little Summer Fete themed launch party to go with it.
This week, she's put together a nice little track by track for us detailing what inspired the songs on the record, and how she's currently unable to write about anything other than unrequited love. Aaw.
1. 'Rivals'
Rivals was a last minute addition to the album. I always wanted to make an album that had a mixture between the dark and the light and as we were beginning to record, I felt the album was leaning a little too much towards the light. So i wrote this, I actually wrote the vocal melody on the day that we came to record the vocals, so it literally was very last minute. My last minute addition ended up being the first single and the first track on the album!
2. 'The Boy I Left Behind'
I wanted to highlight the fact that the album would be full of different feeling tracks so stuck this, my most poppy song, straight after Rivals. I really wanted to go completely over the top so it has the works, strings, brass, bells, organs, xylophone, about 10 different vocal harmonies... I enjoyed the way this song came together the most. Layering instrument after instrument was extremely fulfilling. This was my first chance to be in a really nice studio for long enough to really make the most of the opportunity with this track.
3. 'Dancehall Deceit'
My producer asked me to gather together every single strange or silly instrument in my home, which I did, throwing them altogether in a carrier bag. We felt this track was needing something extra so I stuck my hand into the carrier bag and randomly pulled out my stylophone. I then proceeded to get a little carried away with it on this track! See if you can spot where it is! This track is simply meant to be a track to dance to.
4. 'I Should Have Loved You More'
This is the song that I am most proud of on the album. I think it best sums up the feel of the album and the sound that I was going for, melancholy lyrics with upbeat music. The chord progression is based around a very famous piece of classical music, Pachelbel's Canon in D Major, so I felt the string arrangements needed to be suitably baroque sounding.
5. 'A Future Apart'
This song is my marmite song. In all of the reviews and from the feedback I've had from people, it's the song that divides people the most. My producer and I listened to the intro of Stairway to Heaven (of all songs!) as we really wanted to get some recorders on the album somewhere. They ended up on this track! I haven't played the recorder since junior school so it's all very squeaky! This song was originally written for a magazine who gave me the brief to write a song about the future. Well, of course it ended up being a song about unrequited love. I can't seem to write about any other subject at the moment! I play a string synthesiser called a Solina String Ensemble on this track. My producer's studio is full of vintage synths, I was like a kid in a sweet shop!
6. 'Divided'
I call this song my cheesy song, because it has one of the cheesiest lyrics of all time. I'll let you spot which one it is! When writing this song, I was trying out the old theory that all you need to write a song is three chords. So thats' exactly what this song consists of. D, G and A! I'm absolutely obsessed with period dramas, and without fail, there's always a tale of unrequited love somewhere in there. A young lady who is utterly in love but can never speak of it for reasons beyond her control. And just to save it from being too sugary sweet, there's the nasty ending which switches from major to minor chords to lead nicely into the next track....
7. 'Red Mist'
Most people think that I used a drum machine on this album, partly because of the production but also because the drummer I used is unbelievably tight! He's like a machine! In fact, this is the only track that has a drum machine, underneath the live drummer. I secretly filmed him drumming the really full-on section at the end, he was pulling some amazing faces! It's my blackmail material should I ever need it! This is my angry song. It's always really satisfying to play.
8. 'Never Good Enough'
I hold my hands up! This song really is a bit whiney! It's my emo song! It was originally a really punky/dubby song but I felt the sentiment behind the song came across much better as an acoustic number. I had it in my head that this song would be made up entirely of my voice, but quickly realised that violins and cellos are much much prettier! So came to a little compromise in that, by the end of the song my vocals take over from the strings.
9. 'Good Timing'
This was my attempt to write a Tom Waits style ballad. It ended up sounding a little like a song from a musical but I didn't think that was too bad a thing! My producer's wife bought an amazing Bosendorfer Grand Piano from Maison Rouge studios that had been used on lots of Blur and Oasis recordings, a brit pop piano! So we packed up all the studio equipment and set it up in their house so we could take advantage of the amazing piano.
10. 'The Biggest Mistake'
Billy Joel was seeping into my consciousness at the time of writing this song. It was another last minute addition. I was going for a straight up catchy pop song, with a straightforward verse and chorus so I threw in an unusual middle eight. I was going for 'Low' period David Bowie sounding guitars but thought they ended up sounding a little like the Top Gear theme tune guitars!
11. 'Seeing You Again'
This is the only song that I've ever written in one sitting. It all just came out. It's yet another song about heartbreak and regret! I think the cello-playing at the end of this track is so beautiful, she's an amazing cellist. As so many of the other tracks on the album are very full, I wanted this one to be very sparse.
12. 'The Hypocrite'
Making this track nearly killed me! We gathered up a huge heavy tub of gravel and rocks and I stood in front of the mic throwing it up in the air and catching it again in time to the music! You can just about hear the gravelly sound in one of the drop downs!
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