American Casualties track breakdown
Glad to see you’re interested in the album, what follows are some fun facts, processes, and thoughts about the five songs featured on the American Casualties debut.
“Shotgun“
This song just kinda came out of nowhere, I just picked up my guitar one day and the first thing that came out was the main riff. It was initially conceived as an homage to Radiohead, with the main riff inspired by some of Jonny’s lead parts (the electronic percussion in the intro is a leftover from this idea), and the overall structure of the mild-mannered intro setting up an explosive outro similar to “Exit Music” or “You and Whose Army.” However when I started to record the second guitar for the demo it turned into something more Sonic Youth sounding, which is fine as well because I thought the second guitar gave it a “moment of crisis” feeling that reminded me of “Cross the Breeze.” The guitar on this one is fun to play, and the ending part was certainly a test to see how high and loud I could sing, especially with the backing vocals.
With this tone in mind I sat down to write the lyrics as the words “Shotgun/Better run and hide” first came to mind. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to write directly about a mass shooting but I thought it might be necessary seeing as it was fresh in my mind right after the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings. My goal with the lyrics was to not fill the track with meaningless slogans and buzz-phrases heard after every mass shooting, but rather to describe the reality of the situation. It’s hard to say how I would feel if I found myself in the middle of such a scenario, but I tried my best to convey my personal panic and despair.
“Triple Entente“
This was the last song written for the EP. Initially, I had a few different riffs in the same key that made up parts of “The Broken Sky” section of the track that were almost abandoned until I came up with the 2-chord introduction that begins the song. Once I put them together, I thought the track could provide interesting contrasts and be split up into sections similar to my space opera, “Rei.” I tacked on a third section to the end and in doing so the title “Triple Entente” came about. I like that each part of the song sounds different, but somehow, forms a complete piece.
Since all the themes and lyrics were finished for the rest of the album before this track was even conceived, I tried to combine all those ideas for the lyrics on this one. This track is simply about what it feels like to be a young person living in a post 9/11 America, and trying to grasp with forces that we cannot control that influence our lives on a near-daily basis.
“...And I Hear Nothing“
This is the “Planet Caravan” of the album so to speak. I’ve always held the thought that every project needs the mellow, slower song to contrast with the loud, upfront bangers. I hesitate to call it in the realm of Pink Floyd but it’s certainly introspective. The bridge has another chord structure that is borrowed from a riff an old friend of mine came up with but altered and transposed to fit in key. It sort of has this feeling that reminds me of Number Girl’s “性的少女” which has a middle section in a different key that changes the song up a bit. It was the first song written for the project, and I liked it so much that I was very uncertain what the other songs that came after would sound like. Luckily I’d like to think we did the album some justice. Personally, I think the guitar solos feature some of my most expressive guitar work.
Lyrically, my initial thought was I wanted to convey the “angry-calm” one would feel in the aftermath of a tragedy such as a mass shooting. The lyrics are somewhat a criticism and acknowledgement that our government lacks the foresight or responsibility to do anything in the wake of an attack, emphasized more each time “doesn’t matter at all,” is repeated. And as if waiting for an answer or explanation from them, naturally, “I hear nothing” in response.
“Nomad’s Land“
Production wise, this is my blatant Queens of the Stone Age ripoff. I got really into the first half of “Songs for the Deaf” while writing for this album and I wanted to create something heavy that wasn’t bluesy, so I came up with this. It has a really cool chord progression that I thought might not fit the sound of American Casualties but the more I played it the more I wanted to include it. Certainly a fun tune to bang chords out to.
The title of the song is a play on “No Man’s Land.” The working title was “Desert Song” because I thought it sounded like traveling through the desert and I thought I was going to write lyrics about that but decided I didn’t want to make such an obvious song, so I wrote about a lost love instead after those opening lines about walking to the moon. I think this one can be interpreted in a number of ways, simply not referring to a interpersonal love but could be extended to include any kind of love.
“One Lucky Day“
I came up this song thinking we should include a shoegaze number because Molly is a huge shoegaze fan. I recorded a demo and sent it to them but wasn’t very compelled as the demo was really simple and the lyrics felt generic. But Molly thought it was a great song, so I decided I could make it work if we tweaked it a little bit, and I’m very happy with how it turned out. The idea for the ending section was created to give the song dynamic contrast, watching it crumble only to build it up again for the climax. I think this track, especially with the outro, would be a lot of fun to play live.
I figured I wanted to end the album on a more positive note than the other tracks so I wrote lyrics about hope for the future of this country. You’ll never guess where the title comes from.
The EP, as a whole
I think ever since I heard my first Pink Floyd album, I’ve always felt that an overall concept or theme can elevate an album past the music and allow for another dimension of artistic expression. My past few solo endeavors certainly held themes of their own, and I believe this album is no different. The initial concept for this album was simply “life as a young person in America,” and how that concept evolved was based on the different tracks and musical ideas. I think that statement still holds true now that the album is finished, but personally I feel it has evolved a bit more to “someone with much love for a country that returns no love to them.” And I think that is where the individuality of the songs and their contents shine, to showcase different aspects of the fragmentation and disjointedness of American society, and the desperate plea for something to change for the better.
