1 – Alright

About

Alright is the first song on the EP, but it was actually the last one I wrote. The song is really upbeat and fun, but the lyrics are about heartbreak and as depressing as you’d expect. I love the opening synth, along with The Permanent Blue it’s one of my favourite melodies/riffs I’ve written.

Lyrics

Hover over the lyrics for the annotations.

She, well she left me out to bleed
Recovery is just starting
I break my bones to feel at home
I sail alone it’s all I know

Live acoustic

The writing process

Since it was the last song I wrote I already had most of the EP already done and I could tell it needed another upbeat song. I first came up with the initial melody while messing around with my midi-keyboard and I ended up writing the whole song around it (this is usually my style when writing songs).

The chorus was written so my vocal would be quiet/subtle while the synths/lead melody would be at its loudest. I liked it the idea of me making ‘an honest confession’ while the songs at its peak.

The middle eight/bridge/slowpart (The ‘I hate to say it, but I do…’ part) was written to be a breather and I feel like it’s something that’s really easy to sing along to.

I don’t think it’s my best song, but it’s always a fun one to play and a good reminder of the ‘early days’ in 2017 when I first released the EP.

Other notes

• If I’m playing a live set ‘Alright’ and ‘Anybody’ are the two songs most likely to get on the set from the first EP.
• This was the first music video I ever shot. It was really cool to record a proper video for the first time. Ben Lumber (from Acres) did a really good job shooting the whole thing.
• The drummer in the video is also called Lewis. He was the drummer in my old pop-punk cover band. He also helped out by playing a few gigs during the early days – he’s awesome.
• The music video was shot in the placed I used to regularly practice, these days (I’m writing this in 2021) I practice at the drummers house.
• I play the faint guitar part during the chorus really high up. I think it’s the 17th fret (the root note of the D power chord) and I absolutely hate doing so. I’m aware I could play it elsewhere, but I don’t think it has the same kind of sound.
• Due to the point above (and it’s not the easiest to sing) it makes it one of my least favourite songs to play live, but it’s so upbeat and fun I feel like I have to include it.
• When I play it acoustically I shift the whole song to a completely different key (usually Gsharp major) where I find it easier to sing.

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