-  Initial choice of material – what 2 tracks are you thinking of developing for this module?

We are thinking of doing one original and one cover but want to reharmonises it and play around with the cords and genre of the cover. We will be using our cover of hold back the river as inspiration and bands like Post Modern Jukebox and Scary pockets

- What initial areas of innovation do you think you might focus on?

As a band we would like to innovate by pushing ourselves to write our original to be more jazzy. In our cover we would like to innovate by changing the feel and genre of the song to create a new original take on a popular song.

We are doing 1 original and 1 creative cover. We have decided this together and feel this is the best decision creatively as individuals and as a band as we feel it will challenge us creatively and showcase our ability's best.

- Define and justify at least 2 ideas for incorporating innovation within your work for this project - which area(s) of innovation will you focus on as a group, and what can you focus on yourself and why?

Innovation for me personally will be performance based. I think that if I can give an emotive interesting performance I will be innovating personally. However as a band I think our innovation comes from our genre, this is because we mix a lot of elements from multiple genres to create a unique sound that we haven't heard elsewhere.


- Make clear your current intentions for presenting each track (live videoed performance or multi-track studio recording / DAW generated audio) and why you feel this will best support the material

We would like to do both tracks as a live performance as I feel that this will be the best way to showcase my individual ability as well as the bands. I think one of our elements of innovation comes from the way we each play our instruments and this will come through in a live setting. 

- Outline and make clear collaborative instrumental, production, songwriting and musical roles within the project for each track. Who are you working with, and who will be doing what?

In our band we all song write collaboratively. This means we can all bring our personal influences into our songs. I am working with Pedro Sliva on bass, Harry Harrison on drums and Charlie Barrett on guitar. We have been working together as a band since the first year and have found that we work well as a team. We each focus mainly on our own discipline but songwriting together so that each song is personal and reflective of all of us as individuals while still creating a cohesive sound.

Title : Soldering Iron 

Composers : Madeline Linfield, Harry Harrison, Charlie Barrett, Pedro Silva

Year : 2023

BPM : 123 BMP

Key : Eminor

This track is by the Brighton based band Elephant Camber. The band consists of:

Vocals - Madeline Linfield

Guitar - Charlie Barrett

Bass - Pedro Silva

Drums - Harry Harrison

This song was led by a drum groove written by Harry influenced by the track ‘Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine’. Next Charlie workshopped with Em9 voicings over the top, this led onto Charlie writing the rest of the guitar parts for the song. Pedro then used this to create a bass line. After the structure of the song was down I wrote the vocal melody and lyrics for the song. Soldering Iron has been a long process full of changes to become its final form. The vocal story for Soldering Iron is about going out, pushing yourself too far, becoming/feeling unsafe, being scared but ultimately hiding from the problems/situation you have at home. 

Title : Toxic

Sung by : Brittney Spears

Composers : Bloodshy & Avant, Cathay Dennis, Henrick Johnback

Year : 2003

BPM : 144 BPM

Key : Cminor

Toxic was originally written for Brittney Spears as a pop dance track in the early 2000’s. Elephant Cambers reharmonisation is a jazz fusion/rock take on the naughty’s classic. Led creatively by guitarist Charlie his initial idea was to take toxic and mix it with jazz fusion but in classic elephant camber genre bending style we ended up adding a rock influence in too. This led to the track being quite different to the original. 

Group innovation - Blending genre's, taking a new approach to writing

Individual innovation - Working on performance, self confidence, I have been doing other reharms with the band to try an feel more comfortable with toxic

Once we had decided we were doing one original track for this assessment we discussed the direction we wanted this track to go in. We used influences like Alfa Mist and Yussef Kamaal to inspire us to create a more jazz fusion sound. However even with these new influences we wanted to stay true to our Elephant Camber sound with a captivating story lyrically. This led to multiple examples of innovation throughout ‘soldering Iron’  both individually and in the band as a whole. 

The first example of innovation would be how the instrumentation reflects the story being told in the lyrics. The beginning of the song starts at a lower intensity, this is shown through a simpler drum groove and one chord being held on guitar every other bar; another way this is shown is through the dynamics. This reflects the story being told as at the beginning of the song she is reflecting on the night and unsure how much she has left in her, she then says “should have gone, now it’s creeping up inside. The anticipation makes me feel alive” This is to infer that she has taken a form of stimulant drug and is awaiting her come up. The Pre -chorus is showing her regret and disregard for her own safety inside the initial euphoria, this is shown in the instrumentation with offbeat accents, held chords and use of reverb to create a euphoric and dream-like sound and mood. This is interrupted by a halftime feel and dotted 8th notes in the chorus accompanied with call and response in the lyrics to show her inner conflict. Her desire to make the right choices but lacking the strength to do so. This structure continues but builds slightly in the second verse inferring her drug induced high is intensifying. After the second chorus the song breaks into the final section of the song. This is extremely busy with a guitar solo, staccato bass line and complex drum groove. This is to show the drug induced chaos and inner turmoil she is facing inside her head. 

Another way we have innovated on this track has been through our writing process. Normally when writing as a band the initial ideas come from our guitarist Charlie, however this time our fundamental idea came from our drummer Harry. He had written a drum groove inspired by the bassline in the track ‘Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine’. He took the dotted 8th notes and placed them on a kick with the hi-hat following. This has created a new approach when writing music as a band as it has let us focus on other elements of the music, it has also made the drums a center point of the track instead of the guitar. 

After deciding on doing Toxic as our creative cover we spent a lot of time trying to blend the original feel of the track with our sound as a band. We researched bands like PostModern Jukebox and Scary Pockets for inspiration at the beginning of the term for ideas to help us with the reharmonization. The reason for harmonizing Toxic in our own style is to take a popular song lots of people are familiar with and create a new fresh sound. This allows an audience to feel a sense of connection when listening to this track, whilst also getting our Elephant Camber feel.

Another example of innovation in Toxic is shown at the end of the song. The final part of the track transitions to a heavier, grittier section, in a triplet feel, having less clean vocals. This ‘classic rock’ section differs completely to the rest of the track, and creates a sense of excitement for the audience, by bringing them something new, and unfamiliar. This also differs incredibly from the rest of our music, meaning that it was a challenge for us to step out of our comfort zone, learning and familiarizing ourselves with a new genre.

Elephant Camber new song set to release ‘......’

This genre bending exciting new song breaks headway in an exciting new pathway for band Elephant Camber. The song tells a story of inner struggle with self control, pushing yourself too far on a night out and the inner turmoil created from the situations you find yourself in when hiding from the troubles you are running from. The lyrics for ‘Soldering Iron' have been heavily influenced by real events in singer Madeline Linfield’s life. Maddie has always tried to base lyrics of actual events so that they are relatable and captivating to the audience which is also true to ‘Soldering Iron’. This song has led Elephant Camber into a new direction creating a darker jazz fusion inspired instrumental arrangement for the track.

Elephant Camber are a UK based progressive, contemporary jazz/funk-rock band. They formed while in their first year at Waterbear university in Brighton sharing musical interests and exchanging influences. Due to their own individual styles, Elephant Camber’s sound has become an eclectic mix of all things from Hip-Hop, metal, Experimental, jazz and pop. This has led to the band creating an unique sound and interesting USP often leaving audience members unsure on what genre to pin them in. 

Elephant Camber have spent the last year developing their skills, sound and refining their band aesthetic to create a finished polished product ready for this release. ‘Soldering Iron’ will make its debut at Elephant Camber’s first headline show at The Hope and Ruin on the 17th April.

Elephant Camber comprises of : 

U don’t know how long I’ll last 

Should have gone cos now it’s creeping up inside 

The anticipation makes me feel alive 

Now I won’t sleep cos my heads not right 

I brace myself for another long night 

I should go 

I really should say no

I know I should be at home

Nooo 

I just can’t go 

My band and I have started writing a song. We used Harrys initial idea as the starting point for the song (a drum groove influenced by 'Killing in the Name -Rage Against the Machine') We wanted this song to be influenced by jazz fusion.

Step 2 – Feelings
I have been very anxious during the process of writing this song. It being influenced by jazz fusion has caused some of this anxiety as it isn't a genre I am completely familiar with. This lead to a knock in my confidence while writing this song, I found it hard to find the melody for the vocals with so much going on instrumentally. This lead to me working with the band more closely to try to figure out a vocal melody and worked with them to change the structure to make it easier to sing over. 

A positive to come out of writing this song has been that we have learnt to communicate with each other more freely. Writing this song has been a long creative process we've all  had to be heavily involved in. This has lead to several disagreements over the term but generally has made us better at listening and problem solving together. However a negative experience for me during this process has been that I have found it very hard to talk to the band at times and have felt very isolated and anxious.

On reflection, I realised that I should been more vocal to the band about struggling with this song and feeling anxious so they could have helped me through this instead of me doing it all on my own. In spite of that this has been and overall positive experience as we have ended up with a really cool song we all enjoy that showcases all of our abilities.

Through the process of writing and finishing this song I have overcome personal challenges (initial lack of self confidence and general anxiety). This has lead to a growth in both in my songwriting, vocal ability and self belief. I have pushed myself to do mentoring and to ask others for help when I am struggling. Another strategy I would like to use is to try grounding techniques for when I become stressed about songwriting as well as creating realistic goals so I can keep focused and won't put off important tasks.

The next time I write a song influenced by a genre I'm not confidant in I will do more research on the genre at the beginning. This will help me to understand the techniques used and the style I am writing in. Another way to approach songwriting next time is not to be afraid to ask for help earlier in the process so I am not overwhelmed later on in the term. 

Shots again out of a pint glass 

U don’t know how long I’ll last 

Should have gone cos now it’s creeping up inside 

The anticipation makes me feel alive

Pre-chorus

Now I won’t sleep cos my heads not right 

Im lost inside another night 

Mmmmmm

I should go 

I should goo 

I really should say no

You can’t so no 

I know I should be at home 

You can’t go home 

Nooo 

I just can’t go 

I feel it climbing, feel it taking over me, through this darkness I can see 

I’m feeling colours, tastings sounds minds gone quite cos it’s so loud, at the mercy of this crowd 

Now I can’t sleep cos my heads not right 

I’m lost inside another night

Mmmmmm

Chorus

I should go 

I should goo 

I really should say no

You can’t so no 

I know I should be at home 

You can’t go home 

Nooo 

I just can’t go

Breakdown/Outro