Feature: The Sleeping Cliffs Decodes “Forget What I Said”
What was the initial spark or idea that led to the creation of "Forget What I Said?"
I record dozens of “little” ideas constantly, and then run with the ones that emotionally grab me, where I start to hear new parts, or instrumentation, that builds on the small fragments. For this song specifically, the single idea that I had laid down was a part of the chorus, and what I heard (and felt) was an emotional wall of distorted organ and guitars that reflected sadness and loss. I started to build additional instrumentation that would make the impact of the piece more visceral.
My music is all instrumental so I put a priority on the emotional impact of it, and my second goal with the song was to build an extremely dynamic counterpoint to the chorus that highlights the quieter parts of grief and loss. Where the chorus represents the louder, angrier and devastating side of loss, the middle parts should represent the sorrow, introspection and contemplation.
Can you talk about the recording and production process for this track?
I play and record everything myself and I am a bit obsessive about achieving the exact sounds I hear in my head. Since this is a solo project, I get to keep plugging away at my sounds and trying different things until I get where I want to be with delivering the right emotional impact. Trying new recording techniques, mixing methods and instrument combination is possibly one of the things I love most about recording music. For this song specifically the organ sound in the chorus was a large part of the focus and I ran it through all sorts of pre-amps, flangers, phasers, EQ and Fuzz pedals trying to nail down the sound I wanted. Once I had achieved that, my focus was on the ambience and atmosphere of the middle of the song. The different swells, builds and poignant highlights in the background are achieved with an e-bow on my guitar, a volume pedal and various recorded feedback and harmonics that are then routed through various reverbs and delays.
What impact do you hope "Forget What I Said" will have on your audience?
The feelings that come to my mind when I listen to the song now are regret, introspection, loss, grief, hope, letting go, and recovery. I think it’s just a reality of art though that the artist’s intentions and the listeners’ interpretation will often be different, and I think this is especially true with instrumental music, so my hope with any of my songs is not that my intentions are conveyed, but rather that listeners find something within the song that resonates with them and their experiences.
What is your creative vision as an artist?
I want to create music that takes people on mental journeys. With no lyrics, I hope that people create their own narrative, imagine what words or feelings COULD accompany the songs, and imagine scenes or memories as they listen.
On a personal level, I aspire to keep releasing as much music as possible. This song is from my second album which releases in late July of 2024, and I’m already working on an EP to follow that - which would also be my second EP. I hope that by being active on platforms like YouTube, Threads, TikTok and Instagram I remain approachable and interactive with any fans of my music. I love talking about music and the creation process in general.
How do you continuously grow and evolve as an artist?
Constant immersion. I listen to new music in as many genres as I can expose myself to, and my own genre is hard to pin down because of that. I’m constantly seeking things to spark my imagination and help me expand my sonic pallet and song writing abilities. I think new songs come from a combination of living life and exposure to a vast array of creative ideas and expressions. “The Sleeping Cliffs” is 1 of 3 musical projects that I have going at the moment, and I love constantly crafting musical experiences, so my growth plan is to just keep pushing forward in as many new directions as possible.