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Orlando quintet A Brilliant Lie have just released Threads: Cutter, the first of their upcoming trio of EP releases, it is apart of their 3-EP collection Threads, which will be released over the next 12 months. GroundSounds recently caught up with the band who gave us a detailed insight into their latest tracks featured on Threads: Cutter, check it out below and stream the EP!
“Threads: Cutter” Track-By-Track
Always At Odds
A fight between head and heart can put you at horrible odds with yourself. Sometimes, leading with your heart is the way to go, but a chattering mind can be debilitating at best. The struggle of an internal war can be exhausting…but as long as your intentions are good, it will be worth the fight.
We are always trying to reach for dynamics in our music. This song started off much slower, with the same clean guitar melody, but with different layers underneath. One night, one of our guitarists got a wild hair up his bum, and decided to strip the song down to the main clean guitar riff, and rewrite something that was still catchy, but a lot more distinctive. That fueled the fire for the rest of the members to fill in the gaps for the other parts of the song, including a fully-composed bridge that one of our members decided to texturize with pads and airy sounds. Overall, the song became something that’s vibrant, catchy, and still very ABL.
Pieces
A good chunk of this song came to fruition after a writing session between one of our guitarists and our drummer. The verses and choruses have a great driving-rock feel…with some really unique chords and purposeful dissonance between layers. The bridge was what really stumped us for a while…because how do you build up something that’s already “going to 11” as they say? The 16th note riff was written between bass and drums – and guitars followed suit. This created a unique vibe, even for us, which focused on rhythmic patterns for an extended period of time. The vocal melody creates a smooth layer to help tie it all together. OH – and one of our guitarists got to record a pick squeal on the track – which is super metal. So he was happy.
It’s easy to beat yourself up when you feel weak – like you are constantly falling apart. Or when you look in the mirror and can almost SEE that pieces of you are missing. But you have to put your foot down and hold yourself together. You’re not always going to have the answers, and things are not always going to be easy.
Circles For Sewing
A person can drive his or herself to utter distraction if they allow themselves to be consumed by what other people think/say. This song is an honest depiction of the internal struggle of someone stuck on the outside of a proverbial sewing circle, and the critical decision to put faith back in himself/herself (rather than putting energy into other people who are poisonous).
There was a bit of an “ah-HA” moment with this tune. We had guitar chords that we liked, but no real “feeling” to them. One night, in the rehearsal space, there was a back and forth exchange between two of our guitarists, who were able to build up the song with the rhythm. All of a sudden, the song had life. It had a natural groove and vibe to it. The new structure left ample room for melodies, which ultimately led to the spacey bridge. There was actually a text message that went between members concerning the bridge when then idea was first presented. It was something along the lines of, “This bridge sounds HUGE. I feel like we could part the sea with it!”
Please note: no seas have been parted. We’re not that cool. But the song came out pretty rad.
Drive ‘Til Morning
When writing this EP, all of the members put song ideas on the table – some new, some old. This particular track came about from an unused song from a previous band. It was undeniable that there were cool parts to it – but we had many sessions of ripping the song apart, putting it back together, beating our heads against the wall, ripping it apart again, and so on. Actually, we practically had the song finished at one point…but, then had a songwriting meeting and decided to only use the bridge and the chorus guitar part. Everything else got rewritten.
…again.
So, needless to say, it was a process. But it was a great exercise for us in working together, since this is a new band line-up. It helped strengthen our methods in writing.
Lyrically, this song touches on the seemingly endless quest to get to “where you want to be” in life. Most people can relate to that sentiment – working really hard, and still feeling like you haven’t quite wound up where you thought you would. It opens up a whole can of worms that are nostalgic (missing the “simpler times”) and makes you wonder how much longer you have to keep pushing. But at the end of the day, we should always be determined to keep pushing ourselves – even if it means reinventing our processes or our end goals. We can all do it – even if we have to move faster and drive all night. We’ll get there.
Bittered Bones
It all started with a cowboy hat.
…no really. One of our guitarists put on a cowboy hat and began playing a baritone guitar around the rehearsal house. All of a sudden, a riff popped up with an addictive sway. The song (which we lovingly called “Steve” at first) was brought to the rest of the group to develop.
Many of the parts had natural emotive value, so the intent was to expand upon that – thoughtful, aggressive, with just a hint of sadness. By the time the listener gets to the bridge, we wanted the tension to have developed to the brink of a breaking point. The lyrics follow suit: they relate to times that you are so close to the edge that you don’t even have the strength to throw your hands in the air. Your bones hurt. Your entire being has been bittered. …But you can only blame other people to a certain extent. We all hit the bottom at times, but we ALSO have the ability and the promise within ourselves to try harder and be better. In the end, we can all rise.