Artist Spotlight: Meet Rex K & The Snake Pit Philharmonic
What was the creative process like for this particular single?
I wrote the piano part about a year ago and held on to it without lyrics for quite a while. It started as a simple groovy jazz standard inspired piece that got progressively more complex/stylized over time. I wanted to see how far I could dress up a simple 4-chord + walk down verse progression, and then to contrast that structure against the spiraling, untethered feel of the chorus. The lyrics were pieced together from a couple different ideas while recording the track demos.
How did you approach the arrangement and composition of the music for "Beaten Path Blues?"
The arrangement started with a piano part to which I fitted a driving drum beat. Guitar and base parts were written around the groove of the drum kit. The guitar is a simple rhythmic part that fills in the space around the piano parts while the base walks and roves around a bit- intentionally done to make the verses sound vaguely on edge. The horn and vocal arrangements were based roughly on the forms of standard 4 part harmony though not strictly adhering to those rules. Those parts were figured out organically and played by ear rather than written out and played from sheet music.
What impact do you hope this single will have on your audience?
I hope that this song has a confusing impact on listeners. It's supposed to be one part desperate lament mourning the loss of possibilities to the passage of time, and another part a catchy tune to dance to in acceptance of that fact. Hopefully this song inspires listeners to get up and hit the ground running towards whatever it is that would bring them individual fulfillment, while also showing that you can't change your life overnight, so the best way to do that is to slow down and take life into your own hands at a walking pace.
What inspired you to pursue a career in music?
I've been playing various instruments and making music for as long as I can remember, it's my favorite thing in the world; But to pin down my decision to pursue this career to one event i’d have to say- it was the summer of 2023, in which I had a bizarre encounter with what I can only assume were extraterrestrial beings, who conveyed a message to me, most of which was lost in interplanetary translation, but regardless gave me a profound sense of purpose and inspiration to create music and art.
How do you continuously grow and evolve as an artist?
I’m constantly looking for new sounds and styles to incorporate into my work, both in terms of genre and the instrumentation I use. I actively collect objects that have the potential to make interesting sounds, some of my favorites being: a street sign, a chandelier and a metal Hello Kitty bucket. In terms of genre, I have experience playing jazz and classical piano, classical violin, mallet percussion and trad fiddle among others. One of my favorite creative exercises is to find compatible techniques and themes from across these separate skill sets and try to synthesize them into new, interesting sounds, and arrangements. The practice and act of creating music is inherently a process of perpetual learning. The more I learn the more I see how every skill, no matter how much the styles may contrast each other, or how different the mechanics of the instruments may be, they interconnect and compound on each other; the process of learning and finding those connections brings me a lot of fulfillment in of itself.
