This is my first acoustic release that both includes guitar and vocals. I've had the song completed for quite a while, but I was never happy with how it sounded when I would try to record it, so there ended up being several trial recordings that never made it to the end. With every recording session, I restarted the whole thing, not wanting any discrepancies in the microphone pickup or reverberation around the room. Unfortunately, that meant I would need to record the entire song in a single day, and have it sound how I wanted it to.
However, a series of realizations led me to finally finish it. I have a fascination with half sharp tones, so I always tune my guitar a little high, and try and match those same pitches with my voice. While I like how this sounds better, I became a lot more susceptible to vocal inflections that would force me to rerecord segments. On a whim, I tried doing the INVERSE, going for a half flat tone. Not only did I like how it sounded equally as much as the half sharp, it was a lot easier for my voice to handle. The excitement from that realization as well gave me a boost in precision with my guitar. The fast transition from the second verse to the bridge is the most difficult part to play, and for whatever reason, I was able to play it just how I wanted that day after only two or three attempts.
The thematics of the piece were also in question as well. I had originally wanted to make a drawing for the song that would depict Ani sitting on a park bench surrounded by the fall trees, but it wasn't compelling enough. Then as I was working on other music on the side, experimenting with different genres and sounds, I thought it would be fitting to put them all together in an album, representing my journey through learning guitar. I call it "The Ashes of Something Greater," for the idea that I have so much passion in my heart for music, though I can only do so much to achieve it now. Amber Wind fits this album because it's a song about change, and how I need to decide on my path for the future. The album title then gave me the idea for a new art piece, pictured above, where Ani is burning from the inside, flames bursting out and fading his body into ash. Art can be painful when we are limited by our standards or circumstances, but it's worth it to fuel the flames of passion.