The video above is a demo of my song “Past Conversations” which will be on my EP that I’m hoping to finish recording and release this year. I wrote it in 2018 after watching To All The Boys I Loved Before, stalking an ex-crush on Instagram, reading some old text messages and realising that it was me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.
The instrumentation on the original demo of this song is quite different, you can listen to it on SoundCloud here. The new all-string instrumentation is a concept I’m using for my EP, all the songs will be just my voice accompanied by violin and viola parts. It’s a good exercise for me in arranging strings but also a way for me to capture the intimacy of these songs as the violin is the first musical instrument I picked up and I wanted to play all the instruments on this first EP myself without having to rely on MIDI.
I’ve toyed with the idea of starting this Substack for a while. I’ve been trying to find a more meaningful way to connect, reflect and share but had trouble settling on a format or topic I could commit to writing regularly about. After reading Elle Griffin’s latest article on The Novelleist and talking to her via the comment section, I realised the best way is to just get started and figure it out as I go along.
I really love the newsletters Fog Chaser and What’s Curation, and will definitely be drawing inspiration from them as I figure out what drops of golden sun is going to be. Of course, I want to use this platform to share my music, but I’d also like to add some form of curation to this newsletter as well.
To get that started, here are 3 albums I listened to recently and loved:
Centralismo by Sore
(favourite track: Keangkuhanku)
One of the last gifts my Twitter feed gave me before I deleted my account was a video of this Indonesian band performing at an outdoor venue. The whole crowd was singing along to a laidback groove accompanied by bluesy guitars. I later found out the song was “Ssssst…” from their album Sorealist. I’m currently doing a deep dive into their discography and this song is my current favourite. “Keangkuhanku” means “My Arrogance” in Bahasa. The lyrics are centred around realising one’s wrongdoings and asking for forgiveness.
Embrace the Progress by Krysta Joy
(favourite track: Boarding Pass)
Full disclosure: Krysta is a friend of mine and I’ve recorded violin on another track of hers. I first ran into her at our auditions for music school, she auditioned before me and I was immediately drawn to her emotional songwriting and crystal-clear voice. It’s been a privilege to witness her journey, from being the girl with a guitar, to the girl with a guitar who is also a producer/radio DJ/studio owner using her own platform to elevate other artists in Singapore. I love her first full-length album Embrace the Progress so much and look forward to her next. Feeling out of place in a place that should be home is something I resonate with and a feeling Krysta captures so beautifully in this track. Another track I love from this album is “Enough” which feels like a warm hug from a friend in sonic form.
Anadolu Pop by Moğallar
(favourite track: Madımak)
I added this album after hearing one of the songs on a Turkish Fusion playlist on Apple Music. I probably added it because I heard some interesting bowed strings. I’m very fascinated by Middle Eastern and South Asian folk music that features violin-like instruments because of the way they make the instrument sing. On an unrelated note, I feel "Toroslar" from this album would feel right at home in a Wes Anderson film.
At the moment I plan to publish one letter on the last day of every month. If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading and I hope you’ll be here then! And as promised, here’s a picture of my family cat, Tiger II.
Shoutout to Elle again for inspiring and encouraging me to start this newsletter! In case you missed the link, here’s the article I mentioned.
LoL (Lots of Love),
rae
Update (2nd May 2023): I just realised it might be helpful to have all the videos/music linked here compiled in a playlist, here it is on YouTube. I currently don’t have access to my Spotify account (I’m an Apple Music girl) but I might start a playlist there when I do.
drop no.1 ~ april 2023