Song #243 of 9999 - Architect by Frankie Big Face

One more week of writing about my own music (as mentioned in my post of July 20) and then back to my normal blog! I think people are getting tired of this...

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Song #243 of 9999 

Title: Architect
Artist: Frankie Big Face
Year: 2012
Album: Nur Ein 7

Click here to listen!

I like words that are most commonly used as one part of speech but can be used in other ways, often heightening their meaning or uniqueness. "Architect" is one of those words and once I decided to use it as a verb, I found much more inspiration and clarity of direction. Although the song may seem like a throwaway blues-rock number, I'm really happy with the earnest chorus lyric of this "cautionary tale":

If you architect a plan of mutual respect
You can build a house of love
If you engineer a machine that's fueled by fear
You may find yourself alone

Architect was a particularly fun song to record. It features the very talented (and life-time Frankie Big Face member) Paul Gallello on drums and the debut of the Slave Labor Choir, a group of five students who had been bugging me to sing backing vocals on one of my songs for a few weeks. It was interesting to work with them in the studio, where everything is typically made up on the spot, given that they're so used to having everything written out and rehearsed. I think they were also taken aback at just how loud one has to sing to get the desired effect (i.e. rocking out) for this style. I'm not sure I got exactly what I was aiming for (I was thinking gospel choir), but having backing vocals sung by other people is such a luxury and really adds a lot to the arrangement. Plus, the more reserved vocal style has kind of a "cool" quality, especially during the unison scales that follow the chorus.