Synoiz Music Blog

Posted 17th June 2013

Once again it's been a while since my last blog, I've had lots to ramble about but nothing interesting enough to actually write about! If you saw the news I'm in the middle of working on my second album, I'm enjoying the process but it is a bit weird. 90% of the songs are written and just being spruced up, but now it's getting to the cutting room stage and I'm having to forget about my "ideals" and think about the best way to present an album. 

In the past it would be that people would buy records based upon artist name or cover art or the success of a single etc, now it seems to be a lot more about the structure of the album.

Because we allow streams or previews of albums online we need to think about immediately "hooking" the listener. Don't get through to that listener in the first 30 seconds? Well they've got a million other artists on the internet to listen to and they're not gonna give a slow-burner the time of day unless they know it's gonna be worth it. 

It's cynical but I'm having to be realistic, I can leave my 3 CD deluxe egotrip albums for if I ever make a name for myself, right now I need to make songs that people can use and relate to their lives, whether if it's listening in the background while working, or a song to have on in the car. 

The way I started the new album was with a track called "Dawn" that was wonderful for me, it was a perfect representation of how I feel conveying an honest picture of the melancholy I often find myself in (not in a bad way, I see it as more of a comforting sensation). But when listening through the album these last few days, it wasn't the way to start a record. Every stream, every iTunes preview would start with this track and people might switch off before they got to the heart of the album. That's what happened with a lot of my last album Ambients, we started with Forest and because of it, most of the streams we see online end before the first intro track is done, even if that listener might have loved Getting Safer or Andromeda, the structure of the album stopped them getting that far. 

Maybe people don't have the patience for albums anymore but this new Synoiz album is starting with something a little more dramatic, it's still got a lot of stuff for the existing fans to enjoy but there's a few vocal tracks in there too. We may even have an EP from it as we like all the tracks but some of them won't make the cut and I want to make this album as accessible and listenable as possible. 

How do other artists feel about this? Do other artists feel pressured to slap people in the face with their music or feel like you can't do the album you want to do because of how online releases work? 

As a listener do you feel like there's too much to listen to or that you want albums to grab you on the first track?

Hope you're all well, here's the Dawn track I was talking about, I love it but it won't be on the new record! 

Dawn (New album out-take) by Synoiz