We’re extremely pleased with the response to our first release After the fall and are excited to share song number two with you, a mellow melody called Surf. Featuring chilled-out rhythm guitar, a xylophone solo, synth cello and exemplary backing vocals, we transport you to a beach, the sea and sitting around a campfire with the people you love.

Song

Discussion

STEVE: Last week we featured a song written by Chris (with over 1,100 listens and downloads and counting! Thanks!), and this week, our second release, is a song written by me.

CHRIS: This is a really beautiful song that reminds me a bit of Hawksley Workman, especially the “ebbs and floowwwws” part. I also think that in many ways it’s a “typical Steve song” to juxtapose with last week’s somewhat “typical Chris song.” What I mean is that I tend to write simpler, poppier songs, while your guitar progressions are usually more interesting and your lyrics more poetic. The backup vocals you wrote for this (which I sing) also remind me of some other songs you’ve written in that they’re kinda messy and misaligned in an intentional way.

STEVE: And I didn’t tell you this after you recorded those backup vocals, but you were bang-on singing them. I think you are right with the “typical song” descriptions; I always have more trouble writing songs that are poppier. Makes us a good team.

CHRIS: Yes. If only we could figure out some way to combine our powers! (Seriously though folks, so far we’ve been writing separately but we’ll also write some songs together before we’re through.)

STEVE: Maybe if we both get over-sized rings with mystical precious stones from another planet, matching Lycra suits and offsetting superpowers? Perhaps then, the sum of the parts will be greater than the whole. Perhaps that is our next collaborative song topic.

CHRIS: Greater than the whole? Then we could start calling our band Synergy! (You see, this is a joke, because I was once in a band called… oh never mind.)

STEVE: Back to the song, often when I write I try to be abstract in an effort to draw out personal emotions you may have as a listener, and that is what I attempted to do here. We hope you can relate to it on an experiential level. I also have the luxury of working at a school with a music department, so I’ve been able to explore different instrument options. Enter, xylophone.

CHRIS: Yeah, the xylophone is real, the cello ain’t. Could you people tell? (Maybe next time we should turn that kind of trivia into a contest.)

STEVE: I like that idea. As with last week’s song we’re hoping to one day add real drums, hopefully the cello will be real one day too. In any case, enjoy! And if you like it, as always, take a moment to spread the word.

CHRIS: Word.

Lyrics

When I look into your smile
I see every single ocean
Compressed into the iris of your eye

And when you look right back
Your love flows
In tidal waves and currents
Moving continents in my heart and my mind

Come away with me
To the edge of
Where the sand does war with water
And every battle sounds like summer
No beach is long enough

So we’ll surf in our own ocean
We’ll make waves in our own sea
And when the waves crash all around you
Look up and you will see

We’ll set all our clocks
The second hand
Matching every crashing wave
The hour hand by days and weeks and years

As our love ebbs and flows
We’ll let it shape itself with
All the tides that life provides
As our love ebbs and flows

So we’ll surf in our own ocean
We’ll make waves in our own sea
And when the waves crash all around you
Look up and you will see

So lets make waves in our own ocean
And we’ll make waves in our own sea, our own sea
When the waves crash all around you
Won’t you look up and you will see me

Credits

Chris Tindal: Backing vocals
Steve Salt: Acoustic guitar, lead vocals, xylophone, synth arrangement
Words and music: Steve Salt
Illustration: Claire Salloum
Produced by Steve Salt and Chris Tindal