Feature: sandmoon Decodes “Confessions”
What was the creative process like for this particular song?
Sandra Arslanian (the head of sandmoon): It was one of the songs that I was working on for the album ‘Put a Gun/Commotion’ (2020) but for a certain reason, didn't pursue it at the time.
It did not fit in the following album either, ‘While We Watch the Horizon Sink’ (2022) because those were all songs written during the lockdown and post-Beirut explosion.
End of last year, when I decided to release a few stand alone singles, I revisited the songs that I was working on prior to 2020, and I remembered a tune I particularly liked: "Confessions"... I only had the chorus, so I added verses and an outro. And there it was :)
The lyrics are mostly written through automatic writing, one word leading to the other.
I actually don’t have anything to confess :)
I just like the idea of not holding things in, getting it all out to feel liberated from the weight of it.
Were there any challenges or obstacles you faced while creating "Confessions?"
Yes, a personal challenge this time. So, no explosion, no electricity cuts or such.
I lost the person closest to me, my mom, in the middle of the recording.
Everything got postponed. And recording the vocals, which usually is the easiest part, proved to be challenging as I needed to find enough motivation and passion within me to sing wholeheartedly, standing alone in the middle of an empty recording room (and our lovely, talented producer Marwan Tohme on the other side of a glass window). The first session got canceled. It came out towards the end of the second session.
How does "Confessions" fit into your overall artistic vision?
We actually started in a very different direction, closer to our previous releases in terms of sound.
Then I added some synth lines to the drum & bass tracks, just to add some flavor. It sounded cool, very 80's.
That's when we decided, together with our producer, to focus mainly on synth layers, and not guitar lines.
So the track sounds pretty different from what we've done before, it's nice to be able to reinvent ourselves.
What has been one of the highlights of your music career so far?
There are many fun, exciting, lovely moments and highlights. I couldn't just choose one.
I can say that music in general and the bliss of sharing it, has probably been one of my main driving forces in life.
Where do you find inspiration for your songs or musical ideas?
Life, in and around, emotions, events, relationships... then the words just come out.