Feature: Ed Geater Decodes “Love Forever Good”
What was the creative process like for this particular song?
The ideas for this song sprung up organically in my mind moments after waking up from a nap! The opening vocal melody, lyrics and piano part were just there. I had recently returned to the UK from Thailand where I had attended Writing Retreat Asia at Karma Studios and which was also the setting where I met my now-girlfriend and “Love Forever Good” collaborator jayce.
The songwriting camp inspired me to write more piano-based songs, and in this case the inspiration hit me so hard that I immediately got up to sit at the piano and create. The emotion poured out of me and the song was finished in a couple of hours.
How did you work with the producer or engineers to bring your vision for "Love Forever Good" to life?
I recorded and self-produced the song in my studio space and my vision was quite clear. I knew I wanted a stripped back piano song with ambient electronica inspired synths to flesh it out, so once I had achieved that I sent it over to jayce for her to record harmonies and backing vocals. Once the song was ready, I worked closely with Henry Watkins at Studio 28 in Thailand for mastering, and with his help I improved the vocal processing and overall 'sparkle' of the track.
How does "Love Forever Good" fit into your overall artistic vision and what can listeners expect from you in the future?
“Love Forever Good” marks a change in my sound, as do the rest of the tracks that are coming in 2024. I've embraced piano as a songwriting tool as well as moving on from implementing beatboxing in my production, but while retaining and building on the atmospheric, electronic soundscapes I like to create. However, my current work with piano does not mean I won't include guitar work in the future, or any other instruments for that matter.
“Love Forever Good” is perhaps the purest, most honest song I've ever written about love, expanding on my vision of being authentic and vulnerable through the medium of music. Listeners can expect to hear more openness and honesty in my music this year and beyond, with plenty of textural experimentation.
How do you continuously grow and evolve as an artist?
I'm very much an experiential songwriter in that my experiences directly fuel my creative process and the songs are often a kind of therapy for me. Attending the songwriting camp in Thailand exposed me to new ideas and inspired my recent piano evolution, so I think it's clear that collaboration can contribute to artistic growth. I also feel that stimulating the mind with new ideas and concepts can inspire new directions in composition, so I seek to have an open mind and welcome new information and experiences for inspiration.
Have you collaborated with other songwriters or musicians? How does the collaborative process enhance your creativity?
“Love Forever Good” was written by me alone, but then enhanced as a collaborative process with jayce in that the final track was transformed by her beautiful backing vocals. I also had the amazing opportunity to write with Brit Award winner Jack Garratt in Thailand (which changed my life in another way, but that's a story coming later in 2024), as well as many other talented artists. This experience, along with my other collaborations in the past, showed me that bouncing my ideas off other creative minds can build things that I couldn't possibly have imagined on my own. So as someone who has usually created alone in an introverted sort of way, I'm now very excited to collaborate more moving forward.
