I can’t really pinpoint the inspiration for this song. The lyrics seemed to come almost fully-formed to me once I’d written the main verse melody. It’s not autobiographical, or even biographical; rather, it’s an exploration of my own understanding of how people can be driven to take extreme actions.
Category: EDM
Intertwined
Fourteen years ago, I married the most wonderful woman in the world. And fourteen years later, I have finally (finally!) written a love song for her — and published it! 😍
Tribulation
A lot of my songs recently have been about mental health, anxiety, and depression. This song explores what it feels like to be “trapped by your own mind” — when you feel as though you’re your own enemy, and have to fight against yourself to just get through the day.
Autumn Heart
This is really my first track with actual singing. 😱 (Yes, that’s what I look like when I sing…)
I wrote this song to explore depression and anxiety. When you have a depressive episode, it feels like a pit you’ll never be able to climb out of — even though you know from past experience that it will pass. It helps to have someone who’s always on your side, no matter what.
For more places to listen, try your favourite streaming service, or check out https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/barryvan/autumn-heart.
Light comes down
This was a fun little piece to write! It started out as I was playing with building out a drum rhythm, and then grew from there into a semi-breakbeat type of hybrid piece. I mixed to mono and applied a pretty aggressive bandpass filter at the start so that when it opens up, it opens all the way up.
Let me know what you think!
More music on Bandcamp!
I haven’t updated my Bandcamp page in several years… But that’s just changed! I’ve uploaded music from the last year or so there. So now you can download it in super-high fidelity, store it on your hard drive, record it to tape for your Walkman sessions… The sky’s the limit!
Dusk
Another piece written while I was in WA’s Great Southern region! As I was writing this piece, the evening chorus of kookaburras started up, blending in with the music. And they fitted so well that I felt compelled to keep them in — after all, their staccato laughing fits in well with a rhythmical, glitchy drop.
This song is intentionally harmonically simple — it really does just stick to the most basic primary chords. I wanted to write something which was optimistic, and joyful, and fun — so nice primary colours, and big open power chords and bouncy lines. And, of course, a whole lot of playing with that mod wheel for vibrato on the lead! I also had fun with the intro — applying a really tight EQ to the intro so that the whole thing sounds fuller and bigger when the song really kicks off.
Listen wherever you get your stream on. 😉
Oh, and this piece also introduces a new little “barryvan” logo which I think I like… It’s kinda like a backwards quaver (eighth note) and has some nice forward momentum. Plus it feels a little bit retro futuristic. At least in my opinion. 😝
Phlogiston
Back in 2011, I wrote a track called “Conflagration” — a moody EDM track with lots of classical orchestration, built around an ascending baseline figure. Then in 2012, I reworked it into “Contraflagration”, which slowed things down a bit but cranked up the distortion — and, although built around the same basic baseline, reworked the harmony.
Now in 2021, I’ve reworked it again into a funkier, semi-disco piece that increases the harmonic complexity whilst making the track a little bit more silly and fun.
And now they’re here together for your listening pleasure wherever you get your stream on. 😉
Alone again
My family and I have been heading down to the south-west of Western Australia for holidays quite frequently; we have a cabin out in the bush near Walpole. I’ve found that heading down there has really helped me to increase the amount of music that I’m writing — something about the place helps me to slow down enough.
This is one of the first pieces that I wrote down there. I actively wanted to write a more video-game style electronic piece which incorporated a decent amount of swing. I also leaned a bit on my fondness for bitcrushing, which gives sounds a lovely crispy, crunchy texture.
Find it wherever you get your stream on!
Exhale
Probably one of the most down-the-line dance tracks I’ve written in a while! There are still a few unusual elements in there, though. This is the first track that I’ve really used MassiveX on — and I like the results!
Available now on SoundCloud, and arriving soon on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and everywhere else.
Liminal: Four new tracks
I’ve just released four new tracks to tickle your earballs! They mix a lo-fi retro vibe with more modern instrumentation and sounds.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Music, YouTube… wherever you like to listen. 😉
…or just use the embedded YouTube player below!
Tears for you
The YouTube video includes a capture of my DAW (Reaper) for this track.
Hopefully the mix is better on this one; I’m still struggling to get the whole thing to sound coherent across the board. Not sure what I’m missing — if you have any thoughts or suggestions, I’d love to hear them! 😉
