The Circle Has Closed?
"On this album I started composing and recording keyboard parts into some of the songs.
It's something I wanted for a long time and I think I got quite good at it pretty fast. For me the highlights of the keyboards are in the songs 'The Remains' and 'A Lonely Star'. What I cherish about this album is its diversity. Each song is different and there are a lot of playing styles. Rhythmical playing like in 'Willing It' and 'Robin Hood'. Some crazy riffs: 'That's Brisk' and 'Complementary Executive Corridor Beverage'. Also some heavy Drop D stuff: 'Back to Reality', 'Endless Friendless'. There are songs based on fingerpicking: 'Peace at Lost' and 'The Circle Has Closed'. Then there are single string riffs like 'You Gotta Have It Together to Keep It Together' and 'Foolery'. And some other techniques like hammer on/pull off riffage in 'Hibernian Soul' and palm muting and such in 'Richie Cunningham/Pink Flamingo'. And finally there's a number of melodic songs. The best song for me is 'The Remains'. You can find out its meaning in its description. On this album I also took to instrumentals. In the last few years I've been struggling a bit with writing lyrics. So I started doing instrumental songs and parts. That doesn't mean that my lyrics should be bad. It just takes me longer writing them. For what it's worth I think they turned out pretty good in most of the songs at least. The story of this album name is based on seeing Robert Plant's concert. I thought that he was one of the last artists left on my 'Have to see live' list so after seeing him live I thought that the The Circle Has Closed. But then I saw performances of some other great artists and bands like Mark Knopfler, Queens of the Stone Age and some Czech bands. So The Circle Has Closed but hasn't hence the question mark in the title. The circle theme is depicted nicely by playing the first riff of the first song at the end of the last song. Last thing: I know the album cover is a bit uneven and also other things, but I am a musician and not a visual artist 😀 "
01 Peace at Lost
"First of all it's a cool song name. The song title represents the fact you'll never truly find peace after you lose someone. Basically it's a sarcastic paraphrase to the saying 'Peace at last'."
02 Back to Reality
"The song name is based on Red Dwarf episode from series 5. It is about returning from holiday/vacation and having to get back into the every day life."
03 That's Brisk
"The song title is based on a quote from Iron Man 3. The song can be described as having goofy lyrics and having some crazy riffage 😀 "
04 Complementary Executive Corridor Beverage
"Pretty long song title based on a line from Red Dwarf series 12. The lyrics are quite crazy and the chorus has a cool rhythm to it."
05 Hibernian Soul
"A tribute to U2 and their song American Soul. Luckily I stumbled upon this cool word 'Hibernian' which is another word for 'Irish' and with it the song name sounds way cooler than 'Irish Soul' would. Also the bridge and the ending riffs are older riffs I had that I incorporated into the song."
06 Willing It
"I wrote this song while playing for the first time in front of our family dog Mildred for the first time to make her get used to it. The 'Willing It' part of the lyrics is based on a quote from Red Dwarf series 11. The 'Where's the party?' part was inspired by Larry David's hilarious act as Kevin Roberts on SNL. The main riff of the song is a cool rhythmical one. Also try and lookup what connection does Mr. Weasley from Harry Potter have to Red Dwarf 🙂 "
07 Robin Hood
"Inspired by the game Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood. Some crazy riffs in this song as well and a lot of parts including a section with just drums and bass and a 'creepy' melody on keyboards."
08 Richie Cunningham/Pink Flamingo
"One of the two two-parted songs on this album. The first half is based on a scene from the movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. The second part of the song is instrumental and its name came about by seeing a large inflatable Pink Flamingo in a pub in Cologne Germany."
09 You Gotta Have It Together to Keep It Together
"The song name is based on a quote from from Prison Break series 5 and it is about craziness I guess 😀 The guitar parts are mostly single string riffs and in the bridge section there is an auto-wah effect."
10 Poor Score/Blue Duckling
"The second two-parted song. The first part of this song is about dealing with fear and anxiety and its main riff has a cool rhythm to it. The second part is instrumental and somewhat creepy. The Blue Duckling name is a counterpart to the Pink Flamingo and references to a species of blue ducks I once saw in the zoo in Berlin."
11 The Remains
"In memory of dog named Marie. One of the two songs I composed few days before our family dog Marie passed away. She was lying in my room and I picked up a guitar and came up with two riffs which later turned into songs. Both of the songs are instrumental. I basically wrote these two songs while watching my dog die. The main riff of this song originated first but was turned into a song and recorded later so that's partly why it's called 'The Remains'. The other song is called 'No Words Can Do You Justice' because there really wasn't anything I could say to express that one moment. Because you can hear it in the music."
12 Endless Friendless
"Tribute to Nirvana. This is the one song where I can certainly say that it is grunge. The is song instrumental and has some great and hard riffs and also great drums."
13 Foolery
"This song is about knowing when to stop going after/following someone who doesn't love you. The song started off with just the high guitar parts and during recording of the song I spontaneously came up with the second guitar."
14 Something’s Went Wrong
"The title of the song is a bit of a word puzzle. The song consists of melodic guitar and keyboards and a cool middle section with a lot of space."
15 A Lonely Star
"A really sophisticated song where all the instruments are great. The bass is greatly mimicking the main riff and there's also a second guitar which is a bit bluesy. The keyboard parts in this song are very cool too."
16 The Circle Has Closed
"The title track of the album. This song is a lot about fingerpicking and the riffs turn around a lot which nicely corresponds with the song name. The song name is a homage to Robert Plant whose concert I saw and thought that he was one of the last artists left on my 'Have to see live' list. So the circle has closed...but has it really?"
Other Songs
"These are songs that represent my previous albums."
The Sea is Calling Us Home
"Title song from my double album. It is a song with interesting riffs and great lyrics which are based on a quote from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
The Trip
"Melodic song with reverb and shimmer effect."
Glimpse of Hapiness
"Song with interesting keyboard parts from my double album Curious Tales from Sand City. This song is dedicated to family dog named Mildred."
No Words Can Do You Justice
"In memory of dog named Marie. This song is from my album The Mayhem Continues. It is instrumental and has a great solo. It's a twin song to 'The Remains'."
Afterlife
"Moving song with sad lyrics."