III.
DAY 2
It is generally advised to have a huge glass of water before going to sleep after a night of drinking. You can totally tell who drank the full glass, who drank half of one and who drank none at all. Fortunately, we had chilaquiles with plenty of salsa, coffee and orange juice to heal the hangover!
Isolations are also a vacation, so we would take time off to enjoy the pool and the sun. I’d say this is the best part about an Isolation; you can alternate from relaxing to doing music, and if you ask us, those are two of the best things in the world.
Here are the beginnings of the third idea which later became “Fever In Me.” We all jammed on guitar, synth and drum machines to create the initial rhythm-section parts that were to define the harmony, tempo, and structure of the song. Almost simultaneously, we strived to create catchy top-lines to go along with the rhythm section. Soon after, the arrangement thickened and multiple synth, guitar, and vocal counter-lines were added.
What was your favorite contribution by yourself?
In Fabian’s words: "My favorite contribution to this Isolation was probably my overall creative direction with the songs. I didn’t write a lot of melodies or parts, but I was able to oversee the production and direction this project went in. I adamantly pushed for this EP to be pop-driven in terms of arrangement and sound, and I love that it ended up more slickly indie pop than I thought was possible."
Miguel, although most comfortable on guitar, had fun working out the pads and bass lines for “Fever in Me”. Diego developed synth riffs, drum beats, and lyrics. Michael wrote guitar parts, bass parts, and lyrics. Marie experimented with the TC Helicon to create vocal top-lines and pads as well as writing lyrics. Fabian used different effects to create energy in the music and glue all the elements together.
Eventually, we got burnt out and swap tasks with someone else! We all took turns controlling the computer, and the rotation of instruments allowed for many ideas to flow easily. Each part of the process was deeply collaborative, and that gave special meaning and depth to each element we decided to include. The resulting music is really the result of 5 minds entrained.
Ligretto, added to a couple of drinks, adds up to what Michael defines as “liquid cocaine”. He would regularly express amazement about how intense this game could be. We would also play music at these times, to refresh our ears from hearing similar stuff all day. And sometimes, we would opt for the sounds of the night instead.
We had more and more visitors throughout the trip. Some were more dangerous than others, but it all added to the excitement of our adventure.
