I did not expect that in the past month my productivity on the Slender Man Opera would sail through the roof and the 2nd Act (which is actually double act, that is two acts long by my normal standards) would fall into place with an ease that flat out shocked the hell out of me.
The project has, as expected, gone slowly, since i have a new baby and i built that expectation into my projected finishing time (i want this out and available by Oct). The first act went well, though there was a long delay before starting the 2nd, and then it took forever to get the first two songs of the 2nd act done. (although i would say the first two songs are more like one, giant 10 minute opening number). So imagine my surprise when the rest of the 2nd Act just… the damn thing wrote itself. I would go to bed at night and wake up the next day and entire sections of songs were just sitting there, written and recorded. Hmmmm.
I am on the very last song of the 2nd act which is kicking ass. As i mentioned in a facebook update (i’m far more active on FB than i am on the blog these days. https://www.facebook.com/steampunkopera?ref=hl), nothing is as fun to compose as act closers, since you do not have to hold back and can just let loose. And out of that, nothing is as wickedly delightful at the penultimate act closer, where officially, things are now as fucked up as they’re going to get. That moment of ultimate fucked upness is GLORious to write and record. And i promise you, in the Slender man i have achieved an entirely new plateau of fucked upness at the end of Act 2, and i swear and promise, not in any way you could possibly at this moment expect.
While the 2nd act only has 8 songs (for a double act, not so much) half of those are like, 8 minutes long. There’s long songs with different sections to them. I hope y’all can roll with that. i could have broken them down into smaller sections, but if the song is not meant to pause, i’m not going to call it different songs when it’s really just different sections within a song. So, some long songs in there.
In late July my wife is taking the 2 kids to her parent’s mountain cottage and leaving me home alone to work (HALLELUJAH). I will likely make the entire 4th act during this time. After that… i gotta record the singers and then… it’s over. Done.
I am going to the states in late august. I would not release the project before i get back even if i finish it, which is doubtful since getting the singers to do all their parts, get it all back to me and then mix it all is going to be a task in and of itself.
The 1st act is so concrete i knew it would be cohesive. The 2nd act however gets… weird. i really wasn’t sure it would work. Every single project there’s a point early in where i think, “Oh, i’ve really gone and made a steaming fuck up this time.” And then there;s a point when the piece suddenly just… starts making itself and when i look up i can’t believe the damn thing actually appears to work. That’s where we are. i listen back to the 2nd act can’t believe the damn thing appears to actually work. I lost sleep worrying it would be giant pile of suckage and i had completely dropped the ball and everyone who had ever liked what i had done up until now would scream and make me walk the Casterly Rock Walk of Shame.
As usual there is a SHITLOAD of background details i simply can’t fit in the damn thing and i have to work out which of it the last act can deal with and what just ain’t gonna happen.
So there. I’ve been quiet on the blog due to the fact that between making the Slender Man Opera and taking care of a baby (and a 6 year old), there is NO extra time for posting. But do not assume inactivity. I’m currently ahead of schedule and if i can get the singer to start recording stuff, i’ve even post some advance sneak peeks. (although i highly regret posting the demos i have thus far. They were in crap shape and i SHOULD have waiited until they were in better form to post. But i get so excited and i want to share even when i know stuff needs more work and i think, “oh they’ll understand” but then i realize you have no way knowing that i’m going to make them better and you just think “holy shit, well paul is SUCKING these days. Wtf happened to him? Why is he sucking so hard? Damn. It’s shame, I liked his stuff up until now.”
But hold! Do not give up yet. I will not let you down. Not this time. Not yet. I mean, i AM going to elt plenty of people down who will expect a Slender Man Opera to be and go a very certain way and will get something very different from that. Sure, they’ll hate it. But they aren’t you. I am going to please YOU, although in a very… weird… way. Look, you liked dead lovers and voodoo cults and weird Narrators with a god fetish and… sentient sci fi geek tablets who want to go to the afterlife. This will be right up YOUR alley.
It’s coming.
