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

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ABOUT THE SONG

In Saneuh was one of my favorite demos that stuck with me for many years while I was working on other bands. I knew it didn’t quite fit anything I was working on, and so I just kept kicking the can down the road hoping there would be a time for it…

The guitar melody you hear at the beginning was actually originally done as a distorted piano line but once I decided to put those ukulele strums in the beginning, it started to make much more sense as a guitar line.

Once that intro came together I really started to hear a strong Gorillaz “Feel Good Inc.” vibe that I wanted to lean into… so I had the drummer (Nate Barnes) and bassist (Pablo Arruda) use that as inspo for the feel of their parts and it really started to come together in a new way!

I also always liked the stark contrast between the verse and the chorus – so I took a slight page out of James Blake’s playbook for that really sparse but atmospheric chorus…

it all just seemed to meld nicely, in my head at least, and I’m really proud of how it turned out with all the help from the musicians that worked on it with 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

In Saneuh

Demo Version

In Saneuh

Rough Mix

In Saneuh

First Pass Mix

Behind the Lyrics

This song, especially the chorus, struck me with this meditative vibe – so this is one of the few song lyrics I’ve written that have been more abstract and less of a concrete, story telling angle.

It’s kind of a series of thoughts on life, or how I was feeling about it at the point of writing it – and ultimately coming back to the conclusion – “you gotta hold on”…

A question I get a lot is what’s the meaning of In Saneuh – and it’s kind of silly… while I was writing this at first, the words were “Insane, huh?” for that part of the song… like isn’t life so insane, huh?

But the more I flushed the song out I got to thinking… I’ve always been interested in eastern religions, and how so many of them promote just sitting with your thoughts and not trying to be too analytical – what is, will be, kind of thinking… and I thought it was slightly amusing to call a song that consists solely of my transcendental thoughts – In Saneuh.

Like there was this place called Saneuh in some forgotten Eastern land and it’s where one goes to focus all their reflective thoughts… 🫠

Studio Recorded Version

In Saneuh

Studio Version

In Saneuh

Some are there to help you out

While others leave ya filled with doubt

I’m hoping there’s some master plan

Too many things left out of hands

Uh

In Saneuh

You gotta hold on

I know

You gotta hold on

I know

In Saneuh

Something has to make you run

These times it feels like all is gone

Keep tryna find a better way

As with everything there’s a cost to pay

Uh

In Saneuh

You gotta hold on

I know

You gotta hold on

I know

You gotta hold on

I keep telling me

Saying hold on

There’s a chance to be

‘Cause if I won’t

Then nothing’s gonna change

And that just don’t

Sit right

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 - :35 - First Run Through

- :35 - 4:10 - Discussion/Recording Groove for Verse

- 4:15 - 6:20 - Discussion/Recording Groove for Chorus

- 6:55 - 8:30 - Recording Second Verse

- 9:22 - 10:30 - Recording Second Chorus

- 11:40 - 13:15 - Recording Outro Section

- 13:20 -16:40 - Go through Sections and Brainstorm

- 16:40 - End - Full Run Through

Recording Drums with Nate Barnes

This drum recording session is with Nate Barnes (who is currently in Boulder, CO at the time of this recording) and he's the main drummer featured on all the songs for this record!

In Saneuh

ABOUT THE SONG

In Saneuh was one of my favorite demos that stuck with me for many years while I was working on other bands. I knew it didn’t quite fit anything I was working on, and so I just kept kicking the can down the road hoping there would be a time for it…

The guitar melody you hear at the beginning was actually originally done as a distorted piano line but once I decided to put those ukulele strums in the beginning, it started to make much more sense as a guitar line.

Once that intro came together I really started to hear a strong Gorillaz “Feel Good Inc.” vibe that I wanted to lean into… so I had the drummer (Nate Barnes) and bassist (Pablo Arruda) use that as inspo for the feel of their parts and it really started to come together in a new way!

I also always liked the stark contrast between the verse and the chorus – so I took a slight page out of James Blake’s playbook for that really sparse but atmospheric chorus…

it all just seemed to meld nicely, in my head at least, and I’m really proud of how it turned out with all the help from the musicians that worked on it with 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

Behind the Lyrics

This song, especially the chorus, struck me with this meditative vibe – so this is one of the few song lyrics I’ve written that have been more abstract and less of a concrete, story telling angle.

It’s kind of a series of thoughts on life, or how I was feeling about it at the point of writing it – and ultimately coming back to the conclusion – “you gotta hold on”…

A question I get a lot is what’s the meaning of In Saneuh – and it’s kind of silly… while I was writing this at first, the words were “Insane, huh?” for that part of the song… like isn’t life so insane, huh?

Like there was this place called Saneuh in some forgotten Eastern land and it’s where one goes to focus all their reflective thoughts… 🫠

Studio Recorded Version

In Saneuh

Some are there to help you out

While others leave ya filled with doubt

I’m hoping there’s some master plan

Too many things left out of hands

Uh

In Saneuh

In Saneuh

In Saneuh

You gotta hold on

I know

I know

You gotta hold on

I know

I know

In Saneuh

Something has to make you run

These times it feels like all is gone

Keep tryna find a better way

As with everything there’s a cost to pay

Uh

In Saneuh

In Saneuh

In Saneuh

You gotta hold on

I know

I know

You gotta hold on

I know

I know

You gotta hold on

I keep telling me

Saying hold on

There’s a chance to be

‘Cause if I won’t

Then nothing’s gonna change

And that just don’t

Sit right

Live Recording Sessions

Recording bass with Pablo Arruda

- :00 - :35 - First Run Through

- :35 - 4:10 - Discussion/Recording Groove for Verse

- 4:15 - 6:20 - Discussion/Recording Groove for Chorus

- 6:55 - 8:30 - Recording Second Verse

- 9:22 - 10:30 - Recording Second Chorus

- 11:40 - 13:15 - Recording Outro Section

- 13:20 -16:40 - Go through Sections and Brainstorm

- 16:40 - End - Full Run Through

Recording Drums with Nate Barnes

This drum recording session is with Nate Barnes (who is currently in Boulder, CO at the time of this recording) and he's the main drummer featured on all the songs for this record!

- :00 - 3:15 - First Run Through

- 3:15 - 7:50 - Discussion/Adjustments to Sections

- 7:50 - 11:10 - Second Run Through

- 11:11 - 13:55 - Brainstorm on Other Options for Sections

- 13:55 - 17:05 - Third Full Take

- 17:30 - 18:11 - Re-Take Last Chorus Outro

- 18:12 - 19:50 - Discussion on Last Couple Alternate Takes

- 19:53 - 21:30 - Retakes on Intro and First Verse

- 21:32 - End - Retakes on Chorus

Liner Notes for In Saneuh

Drums – Nate Barnes

Bass – Pablo Arruda

Guitar – Justin Smith and case vannön