A PERFECT MEMORY (Indefinite Hiatus)

[ZBomber]

DOWNLOAD THE TWO TRACKS HERE: https://www.megaupload.com/?d=YBL93K1Y

"A Perfect Memory" is a concept album I have been working on since September 2009. Originally, I was intending on this to be one epic song, about 20 minutes. After I began writing the lyrics, however, I noticed that there was no way I would be able to fit everything into 20 minutes. So I decided to turn it into a concept album so each part of the story would have enough time to be fully expressed. At first, I planned on this being a complete solo project where I composed all of the music, but this quickly changed when I met my friend Jake in November 2009. The first day we hung out, I showed him the lyrics to "From Afar", and he wrote a song around it, just like that. I knew there was something special there, and since then we have been making steady progress. It is still gonna be one song that will (for the most part) flow together, but the song will be divided up into 12 different tracks, since each section will be quite distinct and will work on it's own.

The concept you ask? It is more or less the story of my life from August 2007 to the present day. That (almost) 3 year period contains my highest highs, as well as my lowest lows, and everything is recorded here. I wrote all of the lyrics for the album, and they are some of the most personal things I have ever written. Musically, the album starts off quite happy sounding and upbeat, until "And The Leaves Have Fallen", which brings about a drastic change that sets the mood for the rest of the album. Theres gonna be some angry, more metal oriented parts towards the middle of the album (most notably Confusion and Chaos). I have not planned out the mood for the finale yet, I'm simply gonna let it come to me when we get there.

Anyways, we currently have recorded three songs (Remnants of A Past, And The Leaves Have Fallen, and From Afar), and we are working on composing the fourth song (A Perfect Memory) now. I have written and completed all the lyrics for the album.

Current line-up:
Jake Mattison: Guitar, piano, vocals
Mike Dembkowski: Bass, vocals

The drums, cello, violin, flute, and strings are programmed, so please forgive their quality. We are trying to get access to the previously mentioned instruments, but we're having a hard time doing so. And neither of us can play drums, so we're gonna need to find a drummer.

The tracklisting:
A PERFECT MEMORY
I. Remnants of a Past [INSTRUMENTAL]
II. From Afar
III. A Perfect Memory
IV. Snapshots (Beneath the Tree) [INSTRUMENTAL]
V. And The Leaves Have Fallen
VI. A Shadow is Cast [INSTRUMENTAL]
VII. Confusion and Chaos
VIII. Another Broken Chain
IX. Progressing Forward [INSTRUMENTAL]
X. A Perfect Memory... Revisited
XI. Here Again
XII. Beneath the Setting Sun

At my estimates, the album should be clocking in around the 70 minute mark... much longer than the originally planned 20 minute epic!

ANYWAYS, on to the good stuff! Here are two songs I would like to share with you all!

REMNANTS OF A PAST:
Download: https://www.megaupload.com/?d=S6MTCRC1
This is the beginning of the album, the overture. There is also going to be a short 30 second to 1 minute intro before the start of the track, but I'm having a hard time picking something that really fits well. In this song, we establish three different theme that reoccur throughout the album.... the bright theme, the depressed theme, and the angry theme.

AND THE LEAVES HAVE FALLEN:
Download: https://www.megaupload.com/?d=N4N1FDK1
My personal favorite song. Its meaning is something very personal to me. The moment I heard Jake play this for the first time, I honestly had an out of body experience. This is exactly what I had in mind when I wrote the lyrics back in September, when this whole album was nothing more than a dream. As far as lyrics go, out of the 500 lyrics I have ever written, this is probably my second favorite of all time. This is also my first time singing on a song (that has been released to the public atleast!) and I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I double Jake's vocals on various parts throughout the song.

Lyrics:
PART V. AND THE LEAVES HAVE FALLEN
And in the blink of an eye
He was gone... gone forever
In his hospital room in shock
We counted down the final hours

And tears would fall
From eyes that can't be dried
As you said your final goodbye
Bowed your head as he slowly died

And in that final hour
Things would change... change forever
How you'd miss those gentle eyes
The arms that raised you and let you fly

How could you leave this behind
How could you go on to survive?
Staring at that cold stone grave
Things will never be the same

We used to be able to sit beneath this tree
It protected us and let us live
But that was so long ago
Now the winter storm has hit us hard
And there is nowhere left to go
The snow is rough and bitter on the faces
Of the youth standing out in the cold
And I'm scared to think of what is to come
And I don't know where to turn
The ice clings to what I once loved
And the leaves have now fallen...



Please let me know what you guys think. I've been spending months and endless hours trying to perfect the concept of the whole thing, and I would like to get some feedback on it so far. Please bare in mind though that these are rough demos, and the mixing/sound isn't the greatest at this point.

Myspace:
https://www.myspace.com/aperfectmemoryprog

Thanks for reading!
-Mike

[sneakyblueberry]

Sweet.  Downloading the 2nd track now.  Is the 1st one any different to the version I've already heard?

[ZBomber]

Sweet.  Downloading the 2nd track now.  Is the 1st one any different to the version I've already heard?

The first track is a little different than the one you have. The mixing is altered and there is also a new piano track at the end.

[lateralus88]

Downloading now. Will give feedback in a while.

[ZBomber]

Downloading now. Will give feedback in a while.

Thanks! 

I've been getting pretty good comments from people I've been showing it to so far. I'm going to present "Leaves" to my poetry class on Thursday, as well.

I would love to hear from some more of you, whether your comments be positive or negative. I just wanna know if I'm headed in a good direction or if we should change things up a bit.

[Silver Tears]

I just gave And The Leaves Have Fallen a quick listen, it's very beautiful and emotional. I really like the lyrics too, especially the last section.

[ZBomber]

I just gave And The Leaves Have Fallen a quick listen, it's very beautiful and emotional. I really like the lyrics too, especially the last section.

Thank you very much! We went through countless takes of "And The Leaves Have Fallen". There was one take that I think came out even better than this one, but we lost the files to it so we never got to finish it.

I still have the MP3 of it though, so I might post it online one day. There were a couple of things I didn't like with the take I posted, but everytime we re-recorded, we never reached the emotion and feeling we got in this one, imo. Might be a good idea to take a break from it for awhile, as we spend a lot of time working on that song alone.

The next sections we are working on are "A Perfect Memory" and "Snapshots". A Perfect Memory, is going to, as it sounds, be quite happy and uplifting. Snapshots is gonna be a long instrumental track, kind of in the vein of Dance of Eternity, in that its going to be a bunch of different riffs, melodies, etc put together. I'm aiming for it to be as if you were looking at photos of different memories, and each one brings a different feeling (riff) to you.

Thanks so much for the feedback.

[Silver Tears]

No problem. 

Oh good luck with the two next songs, will you be posting them here once they're done? I like the idea of "Snapshots", sounds pretty cool.

[ZBomber]

No problem. 

Oh good luck with the two next songs, will you be posting them here once they're done? I like the idea of "Snapshots", sounds pretty cool.

I might. I don't want to post too many of the songs, because I'd like people to be able to hear most of it for the first time as the whole product, in the correct order within the album. But, since I am very restless and I get excited about things, I'm sure I'll post atleast two more songs before the album is finished.  I don't think I'll post Snapshots, but I probably will upload "A Perfect Memory" and "Confusion and Chaos" once they are finished.


But when they will be up is another story. Over the summer, I'm not gonna see my guitarist too much so we won't be able to record or create new songs together frequently. I'm still gonna be writing music this whole summer on my own though, so as soon as we get back to college in the fall we'll have plenty of ideas and material to work with.

[Silver Tears]

That's fair enough, songs like that usually sound better as part of a whole. Keep it up though, I'd be quite keen to hear some more when it's done. 

[faemir]

*was impressed, especially the singing*

[ZBomber]

*was impressed, especially the singing*

Thank you.

And just a little update... Jake and I started working on the music to part 3: "A Perfect Memory". Its coming out pretty great, and its sounding very proggy. Its got a very nice driving rhythm and sounds pretty upbeat. I guess soon we're gonna have to write the vocal melodies, which could be a little bit of a challenge. I've been having a hard time picking lyrics I like for this section, because I want something that sounds very happy and nostalgic, without sounding corny.

Should be interesting, I'll keep you guys updated. Thanks again for all the feedback.

[Ultimetalhead]

I'm reluctant to try out any of the songs, because I'd much rather experience it as a whole, but you can bet that I'll do so as soon as it's available. 

[Super Dude]

I'm reluctant to try out any of the songs, because I'd much rather experience it as a whole, but you can bet that I'll do so as soon as it's available. 

This.  Also, I'm looking forward to hearing the metal-sounding middle you mentioned!

[ZBomber]

Just a heads up that the full album won't be out until 2011 at the earliest.

We're moving along kind of slowly, since my friend is actually touring with his other band at the moment, so this summer I'm gonna be the only one working on it. Once school starts back up in fall, we'll be going at this project again full throttle. In the meantime, I've been messing around with my keyboard and coming up with melodies to show Jake so we have a foundation to work upon in the fall. Some of the stuff I've come up with so far might be b-sides, since they fit in with the theme of the album, but I think they would pull down the album too much since they are slow and depressing, and I don't want to have too much of that in there.

By this winter, I wanna have a couple more tracks to show you guys.... most likely Part III. "A Perfect Memory" (which we already got a solid start on before school ended... very uptempo, a good rocker) and "Confusion and Chaos", which will be very dynamic and brutal, if all goes to plan. 

The other thing I want to mention is that I will be mixing the two available tracks in 5.1 surround sound, and the whole album will receive the same treatment once it is released. I'm gonna get live drum tracks for the overture, but I dunno if we'll be able to get our hands on any of the string/wind instruments, so those might have to stay MIDI until the full album is released...

Thanks for reading, hope you guys like what we have so far, and will enjoy the new tracks... coming in the fall or winter.

[icysk8r]

I can't wait until this album comes out.  I will definitely buy it.  I listened to The Leaves song and it sounded great.  keep up the amazing work.

[ZBomber]

Thanks icy!

Work on the album will resume in a couple of weeks once school starts again. I got a couple ideas, and I guess we'll just have to see where they go!

[antigoon]

I listened to And the Leaves Have Fallen. Love the piano.

[ScioPath]

Awesome. Will look into this.

[icysk8r]

Although, if I HAD to be critical, I would say there is something wrong with the vocal.  not necessarily the vocals themselves, but perhaps the mixing.  I'm not sure whether they are too loud in the mix, or too dry, I dunno, but something seems amiss.  Again, that's me being critical, because the song is stellar. 

[ZBomber]

Although, if I HAD to be critical, I would say there is something wrong with the vocal.  not necessarily the vocals themselves, but perhaps the mixing.  I'm not sure whether they are too loud in the mix, or too dry, I dunno, but something seems amiss.  Again, that's me being critical, because the song is stellar. 

Most likely both. The mixing was done very quickly, and to be honest I was never really satisfied with that take to begin with, but it ended up being the best of what we recorded. Once we get a definite non-demo version, that will all hopefully be fixed.

Thanks to everyone for the criticism and compliments as well! .




Oh, and I'm looking for people to listen to and test out my 5.1 mixes of the two songs. So... if anyone has a surround sound system and wants to help within the next few weeks, lemme know!

[icysk8r]

Although, if I HAD to be critical, I would say there is something wrong with the vocal.  not necessarily the vocals themselves, but perhaps the mixing.  I'm not sure whether they are too loud in the mix, or too dry, I dunno, but something seems amiss.  Again, that's me being critical, because the song is stellar.  

Most likely both. The mixing was done very quickly, and to be honest I was never really satisfied with that take to begin with, but it ended up being the best of what we recorded. Once we get a definite non-demo version, that will all hopefully be fixed.

Thanks to everyone for the criticism and compliments as well! .




Oh, and I'm looking for people to listen to and test out my 5.1 mixes of the two songs. So... if anyone has a surround sound system and wants to help within the next few weeks, lemme know!

I would love to, however RCA sucks monkey balls and  therefor my subwoofer is broken and won't be back for around 2 months.  If you still need someone to test it out by then let me know

[ZBomber]

Well, some bad news for anyone following this...

I think I'm putting this project on an indefinite hiatus. Recent things have come up in my life where I feel I just can't deal with the concept right now. Everything seems a little bit trivial to me right now, and I don't think I could fully put my heart into all of the songs. I've been in an emotional rut lately, and even thinking about the concept of the album just makes things tougher for me. Too painful, too pointless, and honestly, too much work.

That said... one day I WILL resume this project. I don't know when, but I will finish this album one day. I made it my life goal to finish this album, so that is something I plan to hold up to. But I don't think now is the right time. I also think that waiting a bit will be good for the final outcome... lets be honest, this is a pretty grandiose project, and I might be a little over my head at this point in time. However, in a few years when I have more experience, I think the project would be a great task to tackle.

I still want to do music. I haven't talked to my guitarist yet, but I assume we'll be working on songs together this fall... just not related to this particular album. I don't have anything in mind, and even though I have a ton of concepts I have written over the years, I'd like to go into this with no particular goal. Just write and see what happens. Should be interesting. I'll keep you all updated on that front...

Thanks to everyone who offered me criticism and compliments... your kind words really meant a lot to me, and I was glad you enjoyed our music. I hope you will enjoy the next project we will undertake, and hopefully one day you will enjoy the completed "A Perfect Memory" album. Thanks again everyone.

[icysk8r]

Hey dude.  It sucks to hear it's being put off for a while, but yoru life has to come first.  Your fans will be waiting for you when you return though.

On another note, I know I'm only 15 and I'm a nub and everything, but if you ever need to talk you can always PM me.  Even if it's not about your problems.  I might only be 15, but I've always dealt with depression and have a lot of problems most 15 year olds don't.  So if you ever want to talk or vent or just have a friend, you can always PM me.

Hope everything works out,
Collin

[ZBomber]

Hey dude.  It sucks to hear it's being put off for a while, but yoru life has to come first.  Your fans will be waiting for you when you return though.

On another note, I know I'm only 15 and I'm a nub and everything, but if you ever need to talk you can always PM me.  Even if it's not about your problems.  I might only be 15, but I've always dealt with depression and have a lot of problems most 15 year olds don't.  So if you ever want to talk or vent or just have a friend, you can always PM me.

Hope everything works out,
Collin

Thanks man, that means a lot, really. Most of my depression issues are past me at this point, but I've learned I just gotta avoid certain thoughts that will get me depressed if I linger on them... and the period of my life this whole album is based around is way too hard for me to be writing about right now.

That offer goes both ways Collin... if you ever need someone to talk to!




And just a heads up on the new project... met with my guitarist and we're gonna start brainstorming soon. From the looks of it, we're headed for a more acoustic driven thing, with lots of harmonies and probably sadder/melancholy lyrics. Thats just what it seems to be at the moment, I'll eventually create a different thread for that project once we've got a few tracks recorded.

I also think I'll throw the surround sound mixes up here when I'm done... because I honestly feel like "Remnants" just gains so much from the extra three channels, all of the instruments are really given a chance to shine. "Leaves" probably won't be as impressive since there is just the piano and vocals, but I'll do one for that as well.