Kid Lightbulbs On the Making Of “Ritual”
What was the creative process like for this particular song?
I wrote “Ritual” almost a decade ago (in 2014) while living with my now-wife in Queens, NYC. We had a tiny apartment and ambitions to grow within Brooklyn’s underground art and music scene but struggled with loneliness and impostor syndrome. Just before this, we had considered a move to California, only to stay put because of the stress of moving and leaving close family behind. In each of these situations, we kept reverting to our infatuation with each other for comfort and support. It took a while to land on the lyrics, but I had been noodling on the piano riff for “Ritual” through these experiences – it sat in a Reason file for months before I finished writing vocals and produced the beat around it.
I was also fascinated with live looping and vocal sampling at the time – so there is heavy use of looped guitars and vocals throughout. The second half of the song resulted from me needing to change keys to keep the song interesting but not knowing what to do over this new chord progression. The song very quickly took shape from there for me.
How did you work with the producer or engineers to bring your vision for "Ritual (I never want to end this)" to life?
I worked alone on “Ritual” - it’s just me on there, from inception to final cut. Most of the recording was done in early 2014, and I only recently revived it. I originally envisioned it as a Robyn-style electro pop song, and have a whole mostly-finished edit of that version of the song. But I struggled to produce a vocal that I felt matched the tone of this. Between that and the cold weather & isolated feeling of living unhappily in NYC, I began stripping away elements down to the relatively minimal production you hear on the song today.
I sat on the song for almost 10 years before deciding to update and release it, however when I was revisiting the session, it still felt perfect (despite some small tweaks to the mix I made).
How do you feel this song represents your artistic identity?
“Ritual” is one of several songs that show my vulnerability, the almost confessional nature of my music. Talking about love (and its complexity) is difficult for me, and instead it comes out in a song like this. I also aim to apply the concept of a song to its production wherever possible as well, and “Ritual” shows this through the bridge section - in which a gradually-building vocal chorus emerges from quiet piano chords, not unlike a ritualistic chant.
How do you balance incorporating new trends while maintaining a unique and timeless production style?
I don’t personally look at new trends when making music. I make music that sounds good to me, which means it’s inevitably driven by my strongest influences or specific production techniques I happen to be fixated on. These tend to be artists I grew up with or were formative in my creative upbringing. “Ritual” in particular is heavily influenced by Radiohead & Björk (an artist I’ve loved since the early 2000s) and Robyn (an artist I dismissed for a long time until my wife showed me her album Body Talk).
Was there a pivotal moment in your life when you decided to follow your path as a musician?
I started taking piano lessons at age 4, and then abruptly stopped as a teenager because I was frustrated with classical music. Once I started high school, I met 3 friends who, for the first time, saw eye-to-eye with me: we had very similar musical tastes, but would challenge each other with new music. These friends and I were also unafraid to simply be weird and ourselves with each other, something I could not figure out with any friends prior to this group. The pivotal moment was when we decided to start a band together in 2004 – we were playing instrumental progressive rock, which no one we knew was doing at the time, and it brought me out of my shell creatively. I left that band in 2008, but the inception of it is what led me to open my heart creatively and keep pursuing music to this day.
