The Microwave Days

April 12th, 2011

Dear listeners,

This week I found some songs on and old hard disk I would like to share with you. I recorded them not so long ago (2007-2009) and somehow it feels like they belong together. They might be a little softer, more piano-based and acoustic than you’d expect. So ta-dah, here they are, enjoy and please let me know what’s your favorite! Check Bandcamp for lyrics and free downloads.

<3 Bram.

Showtime
A song about a relationship that’s almost done because you just can’t find enough time to actually see each other… And about touring, obviously. I’m not sure exactly when I wrote this song, but it’s certainly older (2008-ish) than the latest intensive Only Seven Left tour. So don’t worry about the lyrics, I changed my mind about touring! I realize this is one of my most in-the-face and sarcastic songs ever, especially the part where I call myself a whore haha.

My friend Roderick actually made a series of photos during our last tour of his 5-more-minutes-till-showtime on Facebook:

5moreminutes

The drums were recorded by Sander during the demo sessions for the OSL album in 2009. I recorded several versions of the song, acoustic, with beats, with lots of synthesizers… but I liked this rock version best. Because it rocks.

I’m Alive
To be honest, I think these are some my best lyrics so far. Thanks to a little notebook I got from a friend, so I didn’t forget any uh… brilliant ideas for lyrics. I used lots of separate sentences I liked to create these lyrics about the painful ending of a relationship. The chorus is actually about falling back on each other again, even when you know better.

I made this little video to visualize my favorite sentence: “playing shipwreck with our sugar cubes in coffee that we made to save us from sinking down”:

Sander played the guitars, and I think thanks to him the instrumental bit after the first chorus is my favorite part. I love how the acoustic and electric guitars mix with the piano.

Change
I wrote this song at about the same time as the previous two: just broke up with the love of my life and in not such a good mood. Although the song ends with: “I can’t imagine I will love again, but I will love again, and you will love again”.

Some of you might recognize the song as ‘Love Again’, the b-side for the new OSL-single. We recorded it in a slightly more rock version for our album, but it didn’t fit so well with the rest of the songs. Jochem came up with the new title, which is better, but ‘Change’ is the original one.

One of the very few songs I made without any drums or beats, just some percussion. It was the first song I wrote when I moved out of my parent’s house so it reminds me of the tiny, dark room I used to live in. The title of the ep is from the same period: when I didn’t really feel like cooking, the microwave days.

Hardcore Kids
A little older than the other songs, a song about some “friends” I used to have. I think when they hear it, they’ll know exactly who I’m talking about. I tried to write a song to express my frustration about narrow-minded people in the music business.

I recorded this as a demo, with a cajon and acoustic guitar (sounds kind of Spanish, don’t you think?), but I liked it this way because it kind of clashes with the title and the subject of the lyrics.

17
The oldest song on this release, I think I wrote it in 2007. It’s a mean song. I feel kind of sorry for singing it. I was angry.

Again, this was meant to be a demo but I never got to actually recording it. And (like with most demo’s) there’s something sincere and true about the way my voice sounds. It’s not perfect and even a little out of tune sometimes, but I guess you can hear my anger. I like.

Category: News