Wuzy Bambussy On the Making Of “Yesterday's Shoes”
Can you share any interesting or unique musical elements or production techniques used in "Yesterday's Shoes?"
Hi there, so with any song I always try to mix organic sounds in with any digi sounds, so as well as deep synth basses there’s also me playing a battered old Rickenbacker bass fed through an overdriven pre amp. The drums I play in especially the top end like hats and crashes, that gives life to that side, I was a drummer in a past life so it makes sense for me to play things in. When demoing up the song I recorded an acoustic straight into logic using the microphone on my iMac, that is actually still in there as it actually sounds pretty sweet and gives some nice top-end bite. This song was recorded in lockdown so Kat recorded her parts in her flat in Bristol, she had to sing under the duvet to drown out the passing traffic on her street.
What was the initial spark or idea that led to the creation of "Yesterday's Shoes?"
The initial spark from memory was the opening piano, everything was built around that. I eq’d the bottom end out of it a touch and used some weird speaker reverb to give it that olde time music hall vibe. I think it’s probably my favourite out of the batch of 10 tunes we’re dropping this year
What has been one of your favorite memories along the path to making this track?
It’s always really exciting receiving the vocal tracks from Kat, I’m like a kid at Christmas loading her tracks into the project. So I’ll give her a rough guide track of the vocal melody generally played on some form of electric keys sound then she expands on that and does her thing. Hearing her hit that high note on the chorus did give me shivers.
How do you approach collaborations with other musicians and maintain creative synergy?
For some songs I’ve used an online musicians site to send songs out to have string sections and brass sections recorded, that’s been another interesting way of recording remotely and seeing how different individuals work. I’ve done similar with a folk singer for a track that’s not seeing the light of day until next year. I’m always looking for new collaborative musicians to work with, to be honest, any creative synergy comes from always looking for that next collab, it’s refreshing working with new people & ideas.
Is there a specific song that holds a particularly special meaning to you? Can you share the story behind it?
They’re all my babies really! I’m proud of them all and really they do all have special meaning because I’m the guy that has to stand and live with them for so long, if I didn’t have faith in them I just wouldn’t release them until I had ironed out any issues. From this batch of 10 if pushed I really love a song called ‘What Became Of You?’ Musically it’s so very different from anything I’ve ever been involved with. Lyrically I’m pretty proud of how it turned out, it’s like a hymn to a lost love and is like what life was like pre-social media when nowadays anyone can be found with a few clicks, back then if someone left your life they were gone.