Track 1: Oxygen
Click here to download Oxygen.
Simply right-click the link and then click; ‘Save Link As..’ to download the track.
About
Oxygen is the first track from the EP and it’s quite obvious what this song’s about when you take a look at the lyrics 😉
However, returning to the EP’s theme of Love this track is about raw desire – nothing more, nothing less.
Lyrics
Hover over the lyrics for the annotations.
We can fold, lost souls
Lights off and left on our own
You’re perched on my lap
Yeah it’s perfect like that.
The city lights outside
Flicker in half-through the blinds
As I’m sat on your clothes and the music flows
With one kiss I’ll breathe you in like Oxygen
I’m sorry I’m hurried
And breathless I’ll breathe you in like Oxygen
I’m sorry I’m hurried
I’m sorry I’m hurried
I’m sorry I’m hurried again
A movie scene from daydreams
Synthesizes itself into heat
And I’m burning you up
What’s the matter with us?
The time stopped, the seal popped
I would die in your arms if you asked
But we’re both getting used to this feeling we choose
Chorus
Instrumental / Oohs & Bass Solo
Chorus
Live performance
The writing process
I always wanted write a song in the same vein of Pressure by The 1975 and Careless Whisper by George Michael, but with a few heavier elements.
I think I slightly missed the mark on the ‘get down and get sexy vibe’, but with the slow verses (and the lyrics themselves) I feel that inspiration is still visible. The verses are actually really fun to sing, you’ll see a live performance above and hopefully it shows how much I’m enjoying myself.
The chorus changes the dynamic of the song quite a bit. I was going for the ‘wall-of-sound’ effect a song like Stay Together For The Kids by blink-182 does – when the guitars come in and destroy bloody everything. It’s not as easy/fun to sing, but it’s loud and I love it!
I was quite stuck on what to do for the instrumental of the track. Initially it was just the bass solo with no ‘oohs’, but at the very last minute I sang two takes; one with ‘high oohs’ and one with ‘lower oohs’ and told Matt to play around with it. This was completely improvised, but I’m really happy with the final result. I wrote the bass solo itself simply because I felt like the bass parts in all my other songs are quite boring (and easy to play) – I felt it was time to write something more interesting and give Ryan something special to do at live shows.
Live acoustic
Other notes
- I play the acoustic version in a different key (from F Major to A# Major) and with a completely different chord in the chorus.
- The song was originally going to be called ‘Oxygen (I’m Sorry I’m Hurried’, but I felt that was too long so it was shortened to Oxygen.
- I’m wearing a hat in both live performances because I shaved my head during lockdown (terrible mistake)