About

First recorded in May 2016 in Shar-e-Babak, Iran

A few weeks ago I heard the story of a Syrian refugee who tried to escape the terror of war by fleeing to Europe with his family. When crossing the Mediterranian Sea their boat overturned and sunk. He lost his children and his wife that day. Being one of the few survivors of that tragedy they brought him to an island in Greece where he sat down on the beach and stared at the sea, refusing to move. He told the police that he wouldn't leave that place without his family. I don't know if this is a true story or an urban myth. Still it is one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever heard.

After carrying this story with me for a while I finally got around to putting the lyrics together when going from Yazd to Shar-e-Babak in Iran. I connected a bunch of one-liners and chunks of lyrics I had written down over the past few weeks. In Shar-e-Babak I stayed at the house of Iranian DJ Ramin. He had a recording studio built into his luxurious apartment. I managed to take some time off to record two fragments that I had written the weeks before. These included a verse in 9/8-measure and a solo-like theme compiled of a succession of jazz chords. Coming up with the chorus and changing the lyrics to fit the music finally allowed me to compile a song out of the fragments.

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EVOLUTION

From Song writing to arrangement to production

June 2017: The World Is Mine - An EP In Progress

About this version

After an intense exchange of ideas in our band chat we finally managed to bring 'Sand' to life as a full-grown band version. Went went through more than five layouts before we arrived at this result. The process mostly revolved around working out the verse's 9/8 measure. At first Jan tried to add very minimal jazz drums to the track, an attempt that quieted it down more than we felt was good. In the end we came up with the shufled drums you will hear in this version.

The recording of the drum and bass lines happened during a session with Kiezkojote's Toby Lelushko some time in the spring. He met with Ali and Jan in our rehearsal room in Hamburg and made sure that we had at least halfway decent recordings to add to our final mix. Still, with the little time the guys had on their hands they only managed to provide quick-and-dirty recordings. Which is one of the main reasons why, despite the pretty reasonable outcome, we decided to call this release "An EP In Progress" and have another go at the material when I get back to Hamburg.

Change log

Adding live drums (recorded with a set of stereo microphones)
Adding a live bass (recorded via line-in)
Mixing the track
Mastering the track (curtesy of Kiezkojote's Toby Lelushko)

November 2016: The Bangkok Sessions

About this version

In early November I stayed in Bangkok for ten days. I decided to use that time to review all the material I had created in the course of this song writing and recording project. To get it in order and to properly prepare it, maybe even for a first release with my band Thank You George in early 2017.

Through my Thai-friend Tui I found a rehearsal room at this cultural centre called Brownstone. I spent a few days there to properly re-record and mix the songs the project "The World Is Mine" had brought to life up until that point.

I didn't make too many changes to most of the songs. However, when listening to "Sand" you will find that I re-wrote the solo part. Hearing the previous version of the song after some time I talked about this with the band and our producer. We felt that the kurdish (phrygian) solo was like a foreign body in the track. Plus it didn't fit our style at all. We therefore decided to only keep the break in between the two cycles and replace the rest with a set of harmonies we believed to sound more natural.

Change log

Replacing the the kurdish (phrygian) solo
Properly re-recording the lead and support acoustic guitar as well as the lead vocals
Getting rid of the doubled and panned guitars as they were cluttering up the song's mix
Reworking the Ableton Live Setup to clean up the synthies and keys

July 2016: Ableton Live Mixdown

About this version

This is a mixdown of "Sand" arranged in the Ableton Live set I had created to play gigs with Thank You George. It includes the essentials (acoustic guitar and vocals), an additional loop guitar and synthesizer as well as Thank You George's signature sound scapes originating from running certain notes of the loop guitar through a chain of reverb and delay effects.

When listening to this mixdown you will notice that the song has evolved and is now slightly longer compared to its earlier versions. This happened when I added the kurdish (phrygian) scale I was taught by Kurdish musician Hamid Haseli in Sanandaj, Iran, to the song's solo part. I am not really sure about this version though. The solo part might need an additional solo line to actually work.

Change log

Adding a loop guitar track and synthie
Adding sound scapes

June 2016: The essentials

About this version

When staying with Iranian DJ Ramin in his flat in Shar-e-Babak I recorded the acoustic guitar and vocals for "Sand" and made a quick mixdown. This is what the song sounds like when dialed down to its essentials.

Change log

Recording the lead acoustic guitar
Recording the lead vocals
Recording the different voices in the choir

May 2016: The fragments

About this version

Before recording the final acoustic guitar in the flat of Iranian DJ Ramin in Shar-e-Babak I captured the various fragments here and there along the way. Whenever I had some time on my hands I moved them around in Ableton Live. This is how I figured out the song's structure and eventually added the lyrics.

Change log

Recording the various acoustic guitar fragments

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Lyrics

Behind me there's my country
I still find crumbs of sand between my toes
These winds and salty waters
They have become the only things I know

And now I sit here on this sand
Knowing well
It's not water
It's not land

I held on to their fingers
Used both my hands and never let go
I stare at the horizon
Until their bodies wash up on the shore

And now I sit here on this sand
Knowing well
It's not water
It's not land

They asked me to move forward
They told me they would drag me off in chains
I know that they don't want me here
So I sit and wait until the world has changed

And now I sit here on this sand
Knowing well
It's not water
It's not land