Owl Rock

This sonic brain fart emerged in 2016

A lot of my songs start kind of slowly and I really wanted to make something that bops right out of the gate. This never quite achieved what I wanted, the guitar tone never sounds good, and I also couldn't seem to play that one note correctly at about the 45 second mark (I have never been the best of friends with palm muting!). Instead of doing a simple overdub, I told Owl Rock I was just stepping out for a loaf of bread and never came back... 

So why share a short, incomplete song I don't really like? There are a couple good lessons in this tiny sketch of an idea. For starters, the drum beat and synthesizer pulse don't change throughout, but there is still a dramatic difference in the sections due to the guitar. Changing up one element can have a huge impact on the feel; something to keep in mind while writing other, hopefully better, songs! Also, Owl Rock is a good example of knowing when to cut your losses. That's two invaluable songwriting lessons courtesy of a fledgling that never made it out of the nest. 

The origin of the title remains a mystery to me, but I do enjoy songs that either create a strong mental image or are born of one, so maybe I can reverse-engineer it?

Proud and wise, Owl swivels her head to and fro, observing, evaluating, understanding. Under the cover of night, she whooshes between the trees, an aerial shadow systematically scouring the ground below for unsuspecting rodents.