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Another Land - SINGLE

by James Paddock

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about

"Another Land"

This piece was initially written around 2011 during my and my family's emigration to Australia - originally intended as a piece full of hope and adventure, that was to be much longer, more varied, and with a symphonic movement-like structure that would tell a much more expansive and personal tale, over the course of perhaps three chapters.

As of 2022, well after I had returned from Australia back to England, the lyrics were incomplete and still no music had been written to accompany them.

In May 2022 I found the lyrics again, and in the span of a couple of evenings wrote the electronic backing and recorded some preliminary vocals with my laptop's inbuilt microphone. With an additional decade of perspective and life experience to pull from, the end result was a much darker, harsher, and more succinct piece of music, with the lyrics told in a more cutting and sarcastic way than I'd intended back in 2011, and additionally with no real resolution to the story.

Our protagonist, clearly introverted but anxious for adventure, begins full of hope and ambition at the start of this journey, but finds themselves unable to connect with the new world around them, suffocated by the environment, and feeling like their own personal ideals are far out of place, leading them to remain indoors and keep to themselves - effectively falling back to square one.

My own closing thoughts on this dilemma are: moving beyond the limits of our comfort zone is vital for our development, but sometimes we find ourselves lost outside of it for far too long. We all desire to, and deserve to, belong. The places we seek to "belong" in can prove to be hostile, wild and uncertain, and it is never a guarantee that they will serve as a means of personal growth for us at all. We cannot be expected to adapt to every situation life throws at us, and there is no shame in feeling as though one's comfort zone is in fact the place that they might belong to, at least for the present, until a better, more rewarding opportunity comes along.

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lyrics

Killing time is killing me
On and on in this endless race
Wanderlust is crying out
All too aware how I'm so displaced

Another land is clear to see
Looking new, bare and pristine
Miles and miles stretch wild and free
Dare I set foot out there?

There's nowhere for my dreams to go
Stuck in shell that's called my home
Locked inside and left alone
Fucking hell - my comfort zone
The sunshine's like a storm...

I'll find love, I'll find life
Elsewhere in this world divine
I'll be strong through this strife
Won't be long, this world is mine

I'm heading out
Departing now
Every ideal turned upside down

I'm heading out
Departing now
Every ideal turned upside down

Nowhere for my dreams to stay
Lost and not sure of the way
The world outside's a heart of stone
Well without my comfort zone
The sunshine's like a storm...

There's no love, there's no life
I'm lost in this grand design
This feels wrong, it's my right
To retreat and stay confined

credits

released August 19, 2022
Personnel:
James Paddock - songwriting, lead vocals
Kevin Martins - mixing, arranging, additional guitar/synths

Album artwork credits:
Art generated by MidJourney.
Uses font "Fortheenas 01" by 7NTypes from dafont.com.

Gear:
Erazer Gaming Notebook P6705 w/ Windows 11
Steinberg UR22C interface
Korg Krome keyboard (61-key)
RODE NT-1A vocal mic

Software:
Reason 10

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

James Paddock England, UK

Composer, singer, artist, and video game developer.

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