I made this song with a "because I can" attitude. I was taking music composition with Dr. Lee Johnson (check out his compositions!) and I desired to make something ... gross. I had never really composed before - I call what I do "jamming" or "instant composition." Typically I listen to my presets, and try to let the song compose itself. I arrange my loops spontaneously and add several "top it off" layers to make the song flow.
Dr. Johnson told us to write a song structure BEFORE entering the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). Which flipped my typical workflow on its head. I was a little upset, but decided to accept the challenge. We were forced to visit the library to study compositions. I didn't even know the library had sheet music! There I found Chamber Symphony by John Adams. Oh my, this sheet music looked like a tornado ripped through and jumbled up all the notes! As soon as I played the album I was hooked on his cartoony sound.
So, I decided to model my composition after Chamber Symphony. I wanted frenetic, unexpected, anxious. My original title was "Fight Dread." I was hearing piano running, terrified, chased by big percussion and brass. Piano would come face-to-face with the evil instruments. Then an acoustic guitar friend enters to assist. Piano and guitar play in unison, working together as screaming synths rise. The drums start losing rhythm, falling apart, and they fall out. The evil instruments are vanquished and piano, synth, and guitar friends frolic together to finish the song. See my song structure sketch below!
Now an outline is made to be broken and wandered around, right? The actual song became vastly different, but retained some of the energy structure! I wrote a meandering ePiano part in the 7/4 odd time signature. It's a slow count like: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3. First minute is straight confusion. Jay Belmont recorded brass and I made it sound silly. I kicked a trash can, and recorded that sound for the first transition! And the song becomes very peaceful. I was trying to capture the feeling of being outdoors. I love nature yet there is melancholy because I am not sure nature will survive in my lifetime. And then, the chaos of life returns to my brain. I recorded dozens of samples in my kitchen for the end. And in complete randomness, I replayed those samples using my MIDI keyboard to create an overwhelming soundscape. As the song was nearing completion, I decided to call it "Modern Life" because this composition encapsulates my feelings of living in the 21st century. There is peace, there is strife, every single day.
Months later, my sister helped me create a video just as insane as the song. I sent her tons of random videos and she made beautiful sample art. I think this sums it up nicely:
You live in the 21st century. You feel that something is off, then CRASH. Suddenly it is peaceful. You are outdoors, birds and a slight breeze. Alas, you're hungry. The indoors are calling you once again. You're not even moving but you feel like you're running. It is chaos in your mind. Sleep is the only sanctuary. You can't wait to be outdoors again.