A Quiet Moment – Song and a Chat

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Episode #220: A Quiet Moment (Song starts at 3:31)

This episode features the song ‘A Quiet Moment’, composed by Paul Dredge and myself.

It’s a song about reflecting back on the history of a friendship, so it’s a quite a personal document, in a way.

On that intimate sort of a note, you’ll get to listen to some audio of Paul and I composing and arranging the vocals for this song. So you get hear some of the actual process of a song coming together.

The style of ‘2 voices to the fore’ appeals to Paul and I. It’s something that comes to us easily. We were inspired by the Finn Brothers (NZ), Simon and Garfunkel, the Everly brothers.

I think ‘A Quiet Moment’ is a very nice album track. Its the 3rd song on our new album ‘River Walking’ (folkrock, streaming now) – great to unwind with listening with headphones on – or in the car perhaps).

It’s a really good example of Paul and I almost in a live performance mode with the singing when the chorus hits, after a more conversational verses.

Listening to the audio of us composing together, you can hear us sort of kneading the song into shape, almost like 2 potters working on a piece of clay as it becomes art.

I’m glad we took the time to bring this song together. We’ve had it in the vault for a few years. Once we decided it needed to fleshed out and lengthened with a guitar solo it was ready. Sometimes you have to be patient. Songs seem to have a mind of their own sometimes as to when they are released out into the world.

The guitar solo was a good idea …it lead into a high lead line over the 2nd chorus that really added to the drama l – and made the recording, I think. Paul wasn’t expecting to do this …he got to the end of the solo and just ‘winged it into – and along with – the vocals on the chorus.

This sort of thing is what we really enjoy when we record. The magic of being completely in the moment, in performance mode, responding intuitively with the right notes and lines to embellish what’s already been recorded, without taking over, or getting in the way.

I’m glad I took a quiet moment to write the lyrics in the first place.

OK, join us in the songwriting session…this is one of those songs where we were in the room together. Paul had a quick read of the lyrics and kicked in on the guitar with some chords, playing with muted strings. I like winging the vocals over the top so away we went.

Hope you enjoy some more music and chat.

The River Walking album is brand new, recorded in 2 countries Australia and NZ . It’s streaming on all the usual platforms – also available for steaming and downloading from www.petepascoe.bandcamp.com

Enjoy ‘A Quiet Moment’ with us.