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Lead single for the forthcoming album "Methodical Variations Volume V" featuring the alt-rock song "Don't Refrain" & exclusive angst-filled protest B-Side "Animated Degradation". Originally recorded as part of the 2020 edition of February Album Writing Month (www.fawm.org), the song asks a number of existential questions while harkening back to Candle's angst ridden younger years.

From the FAWM Liner Notes:

This one started out way different that it ended up. I was playing around on my strat with some heavy chordal figures and a fast rhythm. I quickly decided it needed words and started singing random stuff. I muddled like this for a while, finally writing down the introduction after slowing down my playing. Then I spent the next hour writing the lyrics & the rest of the song.

Then I recorded the rhythm guitar & vox using my "Live" Buzz setup. I then did a quick edit of the WAV file in Audacity & dropped it back into Buzz (c/o the Continuous Wave Reader III Buzz Machine) & recorded a lead guitar part. Rinse, repeat for Bass (my strat patched through FSM's TunaMan to detune it down a whole octave) & backing vox. Spent most of the afternoon recording this. Then I did a mix in Audacity of all these tracks, doubling up a couple of them to give them some meat. Et voilà… a song put together with way more effort than I usually aspire to.

This one still has a dark side & some angst. But it's a lot more hopeful than Animated Degradation. I had a chat with one of my fiction collaborators last night & I think it helped me start to get over this angsty bump. Maybe this song is another step on that path?


Reviews of Don't Refrain:

"'Encumbered by my freedom' Nice word picture. Also, 'And where can I go now That I'm free'. I like those thoughts. The crazy deep music is totally appropriate for the mood of the lyrics."

- J Madison from FAWM: fawm.org/fawmers/jmadison/


"So much going on here that I don't know where to start. The multiple guitar tones that interact with each other fascinating. The vocals are strong, more aggressive than I'm accustomed to from you (could also read as passionate). I like the clean vocal sound and the way it's echoed by your harmony vocal layers or whatever is going on there.

The lyrics are really powerful and it all hangs together well."

- apertome from FAWM: fawm.org/fawmers/apertome/


"It sounds so prog and epic with very little, really nice.
I'm getting such an exhilarating feel from your performance, I picture you letting your inspiration take you away and then float freely in a sonic sky.
Great guitar playing."

- Joanne Gabriel from FAWM: fawm.org/fawmers/caterwauler/


"Really awesome piece. Your vocal effects with the echos on your voice at the chorus just intensifies the musical waves you are making. Solid track all the way through."

- heliosonorous from FAWM: fawm.org/fawmers/heliosonorous/