It’s been a while since I posted something new here but I am particularly proud of this remix I made in collaboration with Young Dreams to reimagine the track ‘Oban’ by Jaga Jazzist from their last album Starfire. I wanted to share it with all of you! It is also on Spotify & iTunes as of today!
Jaga Jazzist are an instrumental band from Norway and one of my favorite bands, constantly pushing musical boundaries, I hope you will check out all their records. A way I like to stay inspired and push myself creatively is to re-approach my favorite songs as a way to honour them and unveil different aspects of the original song. When the opportunity arose to reinterpret Oban I was really excited at the challenge of developing such an incredibly dimensional and technicolour piece into more of a 'pop’ style arrangement.
Young Dreams made an instrumental rework of the original song set in a psychedelic 70’s world. I fell in the mood of it and added a vocal and lyric in homage to that era of soul ballads. We then collaborated on the final arrangement/ production, and after our back and forth we ended up with an entirely new song titled ‘Relative Peace’.
I wrote the lyric about a relationship torn by one lovers need to find comfort in stability over their passions…. the melancholy of desire when not returned, and when traded for safety and ease.
I felt a great sense of longing and tension in Jaga Jazzist’s original, and the instrumental by Young Dreams brought a romance to the song so I felt I wanted to encompass these two worlds when I approached the song. I wanted to explore the facade of ‘happiness’ and ‘relative peace’ that we often wear in efforts to pacify a deeper longing. The melancholy of desire when not returned, or when traded for safety over passions.
Hope you enjoy and make sure you check out the original song by Jaga Jazzist here:
You can hear more of their music here
www.facebook.com/jagajazzist www.jagajazzist.com @jagajazzistofficial
...as well as Young Dreams at :
www.youngdreams.com @youngdreamsband
RELATIVE PEACE
woe I’m in memory never can win i'm dreaming i was next to you to you to you
all this empty space used to be full up of him dreaming now will never do won’t do won’t do won't do
oh baby I tried so hard to make you come back tell me does she treat you right? does she lie? does she write? does she call back?
oooo oh baby you make me wanna take back whats mine no more running around you time won't bring another
say you're living in a 'relative peace' i'm on my knees
what good is my plea if you're relatively happy?
know i make you weak now we never speak I still know what you think about
I know what you need say you're losing sleep tell me does she treat you right? tell me does she treat you good?
ooh baby tried so hard to make you come back ooh baby you make me wanna take back whats mine she's like Jekyll around you then Hyde when the night comes
but every time i look at your face baby there’s a part of me, there in your eyes tell me does she treat you good?
cos baby i’d be living a lie if i don’t say anything i won’t take it too far darling does treat you good?
you say you’re living in… a relative peace you say you’re living in… a relative peace