“….We live in the shadows and
We had the chance and threw it away
And it’s never going to be the same
‘Cause the years are falling by like the rain
It’s never gonna be the same
‘Til the life I knew comes to my house and says
Hello, hello (it’s good to be back)
Hello, hello (it’s good to be back)….”

© Glitter/Noel Gallagher/Mike Leander, “Hello” from the album ‘Whats The Story Morning Glory?’, 1995

This is getting to be like London buses of old… nothing for ages, then three at once.

My last two posts were about two particular things; the release of the Monochrome EP which finally happened, after a long long gestation period and just immediately prior to that, my discovery of AI as a songwriting tool. Well, this particular post leans more on the latter as a source of inspiration as opposed to the former.

Monochrome has been uploaded to the usual place (my Soundcloud account) and has been monetized (my god, what an exercise in patience that was…. I can understand why a lot of artists dont bother…) and following on from that, I immersed myself fully in what Suno could do for me as a remote collaborative tool/substitute topline writer/composer/etc etc etc.

I made the effort to go trawling through a lot of old material, both that is on here and otherwise – going back indeed as far as the ideas for the soundtrack to a screenplay which I wrote back in 2005 called Chasing A Rainbow. Most of the songs from that period were composed from MIDI loops, both piano and drums and were somewhat limited in their scope, I think is probably the politest way of describing it… they were written as part of my learning process of being a writer and a lyricist. In most cases for that particular soundtrack, I had tried writing the more traditional way with the music first and the words being developed by scatting around it and seeing what fell out. In a lot of cases when it comes to songwriting, a lot of very successful artists have done just that for generations and it has worked admirably.

However…. when you’re trying to write something for a screenplay, thats a different matter, it has to tie in with the story. There were a couple of tracks on that screenplay soundtrack where I tried that and didnt really get anywhere in trying to get any music behind them… because I didnt really know how to compose properly at the time. Some might argue that I still dont, especially if I’m leaning on AI these days, but I dont need that kind of person in my life, LOLZ.

Anyway. I can feel myself digressing again, for a change. What I meant to say is that I’ve had a very good look around the collection of lyrics that I’ve got, many of which – most of which, actually – are on this site and have all their backstories in place. Some have ended up with revised names, but as I alluded to in one of my previous posts; the lions share of them have not done anything for the last decade from when they were written in a front room in Wiltshire; some had a cursory sniff from collaborators and one or two may have had versions recorded, as local demos for one particular collaborator but they have enough of their own material to publicise and they rightly play to their own strengths. And, I thought at the time, that I had written stronger stuff which in some cases, I did have the music for. For these songs, I had a kind of feel in mind, but no music and I didnt have the time back then to just keep on kicking ideas around until something happened, I had to concentrate on my profession and earning a living and the songs that I did have ready music for which ended up on the three EP’s that I’ve written and released already under the KOAS brand.

These other songs were languishing, but I always had complete confidence in the lyrics themselves and my experience with what Suno has managed to do with them has, to my mind, proven that. Even really difficult, challenging ambient pieces like Song For Jane and Epitaph – I had a notion as to what I wanted them to be, but somewhat embarrassingly for a producer, I hadnt a notion as to where to start. And, as I didnt have a female vocalist to hand and didnt really have the means to pay for a professional to do it – Suno has allowed me to bring these songs to life.

So….. I decided anyway to develop them into an album/EP … one that I elected to call The Echo Of Unmade Miles (A Collection Of Lost Hours).. and yes, that title was AI generated as well, LOLZ. Now, if I used all the tracks currently in the SUNO library, it would be enough for a triple album, if not more. However, while all the tracks are viable, not everyone of them is a standout. I will most likely make use of another of Suno’s features, which is being able to break out the tracks into stems and overdub them myself in Cubase once the house move is completed. And in that respect some of them may change again, and maybe others wont. Depends on how much time I get to indulge myself, LOLZ.

…but as it stands at the moment, the decision was taken to make use of the tracks that have been created from my lyrics using SUNO and to release them as The Echo Of Unmade Miles. They are in the usual place on Soundcloud, namely here:

I also made the effort to generate as much about this particular project around AI as I could, so that I could set it distinctly apart from the rest of my works, particularly Mondegreen, (which I still have to finish); the pictures used for the album cover/artwork were all generated in Chat GPT, the concept being that it is paying tribute to my Anglo American/Puerto Rican heritage, that I am half New Yorker, carrying a guitar case and walking towards a rainbow…. maybe even chasing it. Cant possibly imagine where that idea came from, LOLZ.

So… to draw things to a conclusion, so that I can get on with packing to move house (tomorrow, before you ask, so I am a tad up against it timewise), the material is out there, I hope that you get a chance to listen to it and to see if you like it; there should be a good, recognisable lyrical thread to the material and as always, I hope you enjoy it. As I say, it may get revisited in a year or two, once the new studio room is set up and the idea of re-doing/remixing a good number of the tracks from No Expectations has not been completely discounted…. there is a lot to do. And thats before we think about writing anything new so, theres a lot going on. Coins In A Fountain, Burning Bridges, Song For Jane, Unspoken Words, Epitaph, Song For Jane, Strange Girl, Heart and Every Time I See Her are ones that I am particularly happy with and are good standalone works that could have been written/performed by a real commercial writing team (ahem).

But, have a listen when you get the chance over the summer please and absolutely feel free to let me know what you think; both of the songs themselves and the whole AI In Music debate which is raging like a brushfire at the moment.

Til next time, I hope you enjoy the summer.