coastal alt/indie rock

​​Field Notes​​

 

“Gypsy Heart" started with the rhythm.

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I play drums and cajon. I often play or program my own percussion. 

But I have no guilt about using loops and samples in my tracks or as inspiration.

They are really useful for pushing me in new directions.

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This was certainly a case of starting with the percussion, picking up my guitar and writing a song over the rhythm. In many cases, I remove the percussion once the song is written, because my 'western' song doesn't really sit well with the 'non-western' rhythm. It this case the rhythm stuck.

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I've not been to the Middle East. That said, I've spent time in the desert of Rajasthan and we're fortunate to be exposed to plenty of world music in the Bay Area.

 

So, I would say this song was written in an imaginary landscape that has roots in the real world.

 

Two other sources influence this song:

 

First, I had to picture who owns this gypsy heart. I used AI to collaborate with me on the images. I often write better when I have an image. Sometimes the image inspires the song. Sometimes, the song inspires the images and the image provides more insight. 

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Then - and this are my influences - I had the thought, "What would it be like to be Stevie 'Gypsy' Nicks boyfriend?"

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That became my  North Star, lyrically, inspiring lines like:

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i never try to hold her back, or to break her spell

she says she channels spirits, her body’s just a shell

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and

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every day’s her odyssey; every town’s her camp

i just try to keep up cause she’s my lamp

 

​​The second source was closer to home. My team had an intern who was born and raised in Khazakhstan.

Her and I had a great number of conversations that summer about work, life, food, Kazakhstan, and of course, music.

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She mentioned the dombra to me (a kind of guitar). I immediately researched, found a sample pack, and realized it fit this song perfectly. And, in many ways, I saw that 'gypsy heart' in her. I don't have a dombra (yet), but she did give a dombra keychain that is very cool.

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