HYGLI

Welcome to the Behind the Scenes Stories, Videos, and Music for my song HYGLI! Feel free to poke around... 👀

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ABOUT THE SONG

This song started completely on my acoustic and the demoed versions stayed that way for several years…

I always knew I wanted to record it with a full band sound, but wasn’t sure how to tackle it. At the end of most nights while traveling and writing in the van, I would go back and play through old demos, and the night that this one came up in the playlist I decided I’d spend the next day working on it.

I came up with some key patches to lay the groundwork, added guitars, and once I got the right drum samples programmed in – I knew I had something.

That ending just felt so powerful I’d be singing it at the top of my lungs while listening back… (sorry to anyone else camping that heard me...)

Demo Versions and Previous Mixes

Demo Version - First Point When the Song Started to Come Together! (definitely a rough cut)

Rough Mix - The Mix I Did Before Sending to the Mixing Engineer (Josh Tyrrell)

First Pass Mix - The First Mix I got Back from Josh

HYGLI

Demo Version

HYGLI

Rough Mix

HYGLI

First Pass Mix

Behind the Lyrics

The reason this song started on acoustic was because I had gotten home after a pretty crappy breakup, sat on my couch, grabbed my guitar, and the song just poured out of me...

It was like all my feelings about how everything had gone down came out so quickly I couldn’t write the words fast enough…

and it’s not the proudest feeling that I had after the breakup, but I kept coming back to the “how you gonna like it love?” lyric and it seemed so powerful for how I felt in that headspace after things ended… feeling betrayed, lost, defeated, ultimately let down, and so upset – the only way you can get back at them is asking the simple, but poignant question – “how you gonna like it?”

… when it happens to you, when you realize I’m fully gone and out, when there’s no going back… “how you gonna like it love?”

Studio Recorded Version

HYGLI

Studio Version

HYGLI

When I heard you leave last night

I wondered if you were gonna do me right, well

I thought I’d maybe get a little babe

Yea what’s it take to write a letter babe?

And if you’re gonna make the ending call

If you’re gonna build the berlin wall, well

I’d try to tear it down and find you love

I’d try to break you down and fight for love

Now every single word I’m getting wrong

I couldn’t say ‘em right, I’ve lost my tongue, since

I’ve been waiting on you for so long

Yea I’ve been waiting for this for so long

But if you’re making this an ending game

I’m never gonna be the life you claim, I

I guess I’m just a little boring love

A little just too fucking boring for ya

So when I heard your truth and watched you run

You went to every place you thought’d be fun, now

I’m calling everywhere you might be

I’m going everywhere you might be

To think that all of this was done in vain

I’m just another failing fool in pain, well

I was never s’posed to fall in love

I’ve never really been that good at love

And at that moment on the ending night

when we got into what would be our last fight, I

Was never gonna say it

I wish I never fucking said shit

Remember waiting home until you got back

Was on my knees and you said, “React, boy”

I was never gonna be the same

You were never gonna be the same

There’s never ever fucking press rewind

There’s never anything that works out fine, well

You were tethered to my anchored boat

Now that I’m sinking you won’t throw the float so

So how you gonna like it love?

Yea how you gonna like it love

Yea how you gonna like it love?

And how you gonna like it love?

Yea how you gonna like it love?

And how you gonna like it love?

I keep thinking back to that one night

When you called it and I lost the fight, guess

It was never gonna be there

Look now I’m never gonna be there

Feel so dumb but you were never truthful

Proved so deceptive in the guise of youthful

Why did you have to be an ending

It could’ve just been the beginning...

Music video First Cut

This was the first video cut I put together for this project, if not ever for a music video…

I had utilized a service where you receive super quality footage based around a concept from a videographer and you get all these little scences – so ultimately it’s up to you to edit it together to fit whatever story you want to tell…

the driving scenes just really seemed to fit the constant driving tempo of the song and so I tried to edit together a story of why this guy is taking such a guilt-ridden drive… And that's where the flashbacks start to come in, that this drive is over a girl, and what happened to the girl?

well this cut didn’t seem fully tell that story - but I thought it was definitely a good start...

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Live Recording Sessions

Recording Bass with Pablo Arruda

All of the songs on my record contained live elements from recording sessions with other incredibly talented musicians from all over the world. This is one of those recording sessions featuring Pablo Arruda (who is currently in Sãn Paulo, Brazil at the time of this recording) and is the Bassist featured on all the songs for this record!

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-:00 - 2:42 - First Run Through

- 2:45 - 3:25 - Discussion

- 3:30 - 5:40 - Retake Chorus Section

- 5:40 - 7:00 - Discusion on Tone

- 7:01 - 8:15 - Re-run Chorus Section

- 8:15 - 9:00 - Discussion on New Overall Take

- 9:00 - 15:25 - New Verse Take Ideas

- 15:30 - 16:30 - Ending Section Discussion

- 16:30 - 25:10 - Ending Section Take(s)

- 25:10 - End - Nailing Down Last Part of Ending Section

Production session with Devin Malloy

Towards the end of the recording process – I enlisted the help of the incredibly talented drummer and producer, Devin Malloy, to do some final co-production on some of the songs on the record over Zoom (COVID was still in full effect). This is one of those sessions where we gave some additional vibe and character to the songs!