Behind The Song: nothing stays the same ꨄ︎

& weekly recommendations from a music & book lover

Hello!

This week I’ve decided to delve into the first track on the EP ‘nothing stays the same’, what inspired the song, how I wrote & recorded it and what makes it what it is.

Writing nsts

I wrote this one on the floor of my bedroom in autumn of 2023. I was writing a lot around this time, and spending a lot of time at home. In October, I had plans to travel and I was also beginning to consider moving away in the new year, and out came this song.

The tuning is DADGAD and it was probably one of the the first times I wrote anything in this tuning. It came out pretty smoothly and the first verse and chorus came all in one go. I wrote the second verse about 2 weeks later when I was visiting London, I really loved it as soon as I finished it, which isn’t always the case.

It felt special to me, like a little snapshot of a moment in time. The lyrics are very real and sincere, my mam was in the garden and my brother Peter was in his room across the hall playing piano, while I was in my room writing about it.

I love looking back at voice memos and finding where song ideas started and how they have changed.

This is how I began writing the song, the childhood bedroom idea is there and the verse chords with a slowed down strum, I think it’s also a semitone or so lower. It changed a lot from this original idea but you can hear the foundations being built which is really interesting to me!

And below, is an early exploration of the second verse that I was writing a few weeks later.

I remember wanting to explore ‘specifics’ in songwriting a bit more, and that’s what I tried to do with this song, pinpointing very specific, niche and personal things and imagery, and exploring them in the lyrics.

Recording nsts

All 6 songs of the EP were recorded and produced with Pete Roberston in his lovely garden studio, but before the time I spent with Pete, I demo-ed some songs with Seán around Christmas time and this was one of them.

Originally, the song was leaning towards being a little more upbeat, Pete brought the relaxed feel along with the boomy drums that I never would have paired with this song but love so much.

This is one of the first songs we started working on when we first met and I love how gentle we were with this one from the very start and how much space we gave to the vocals / lyrics.

One of the most special things about this song to me is that my brother Peter plays piano on it. On the line ‘Peter plays piano’ and from the bridge onwards, the sweet twinkly piano that you can hear is him and I love having him be a part of this song.

This song ended up being the intro to the EP, which feels like a fitting opener for me, if you have any questions about the writing / recording process of this one just let me know.

The lyrics have become a comfort to me now, I love getting people to sing along when I play it live, nothing stays the same and that’s okay :)

What I’ve been reading

I’ve started reading Kala by Colin Walsh and really enjoying it so far, set in a small town on the West coast of Ireland.

I just finished re-reading Call Me By Your Name, I’ve been really enjoying reading about summer time while baking in the summer heat this year. Any summer book recommendations / books where the summer time plays a big part in the setting let me know :)

My personal recommendations for books like this: Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth and Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson.

What I’ve been listening to

I love this beautiful collection of songs by Olivia Barton and Annika Bennett - so beautiful and intimate, their voices blend together and separate from each other so smoothly, the guitars are sounding so nice on all of the tracks too.

One of my favourites is ‘Elton & John’, the lyrics are the perfect balance of silly and vulnerable, and I love the DIY ending of chatting and what sounds like an early voice memo / recording take.

I love the chorus lyrics too, ‘why do I want my life to change, if it did, I’m just gonna miss you’.

That’s all from me, for now. Next week I’ll delve into another song :)