| All songs composed, performed, and produced by RLM November 2006 - August 2007 |
| FAY CE QUE VOUDRAS - translation: “Do What You Will” - brings RLM back to more progressive efforts. The majority of the album was composed and originally conceived on piano. Many of the songs started as just small keyboard studies. The songs wrote themselves. Easily putting lyrics, arrangements, and story lines to music. This album is dark. Blending soft piano phrases with heavy guitar. Lyrical inspirations delve into some actual experiences…sometimes not comfortable to soak in. This latest release is both cathartic and resolute. |
The FAY CE QUE VOUDRAS Open Letter:
This album was a labour of love and frustration. But that always seems the case with my recordings. High ideals
and vision…low execution and realization. But, all in all, I am very proud of this work and would rate this among
my best ever. It sure took me long enough. Eight months from start to finish. I was recording backing vocals right
up to the time I was doing test masters. You know, you get those ideas and add-ons at the very last second and I
couldn’t listen to those tracks, without regret, if I didn’t include those final touches.
It all started shortly after doing some documentary underscores in October and November of 2006. I greatly
improved as a keyboard player and the piano sound itself lent to a great deal of inspiration. They were not meant
to be ”songs” as such. But, you know how music has a way of controlling the outcome of any small doodling. All
of a sudden you’re humming a melody and you’re off! Then, the lyrical concepts come to the surface like some
primordial ooze from Loch Ness. This is where I think I really sunk my teeth into it. I feel these are the best lyrics I
have ever written in a style that I love. I was able to get my head around the stories, if I may say, in a profound
way. There are childhood memories, teenage reflections, my musician road exploits, and current dealings with the
scamps of mid-life and beyond.
Musically, I tried to approach the tunes in a more interesting way like start singing on a bridge instead of the
first verse. Then going to a chorus and never coming back to the verses. Some apparent influences ( at least,
apparent to me ) was artists like Sigur Ros, Type O Negative, Queen, and Mahavishnu Orchestra for over-all music
styles. This was by accident and unintentional. I’m sure you’ll hear some other meanderings of bands and players.
We are all music critics at the end of the day…aren’t we?
It is also worth mentioning some of the things I was reading during this time that certainly controlled my pen like
a plagiaristic planchett reading. The “HellFire Club” by Daniel P. Mannix, which is about a late Eighteenth Century
group of aristocrats, politicians, artists and other eminent European men who, under the stealth of night, held
meetings that included Satan worship, prostitutes, and a whole lot of drinking. This became a referential premise
for “Divalia”, which became, for me, the crux of the album. I hope to share the story ( my story, that is…) with you
sometime soon. Also, “I, Lucifer” by Glen Duncan, which is one the most brilliant works of fiction I have ever read.
There are stories abound on this album. But, there are also some very personal reflections weaved within. Unlike
many of Fragile Thoughts’ concepts, these are the most precious and intimate recollections and epiphanies I have
ever written about. I hope you enjoy it and cherish it half as much as I do.
Richard L McCorkell
August 2007
This album was a labour of love and frustration. But that always seems the case with my recordings. High ideals
and vision…low execution and realization. But, all in all, I am very proud of this work and would rate this among
my best ever. It sure took me long enough. Eight months from start to finish. I was recording backing vocals right
up to the time I was doing test masters. You know, you get those ideas and add-ons at the very last second and I
couldn’t listen to those tracks, without regret, if I didn’t include those final touches.
It all started shortly after doing some documentary underscores in October and November of 2006. I greatly
improved as a keyboard player and the piano sound itself lent to a great deal of inspiration. They were not meant
to be ”songs” as such. But, you know how music has a way of controlling the outcome of any small doodling. All
of a sudden you’re humming a melody and you’re off! Then, the lyrical concepts come to the surface like some
primordial ooze from Loch Ness. This is where I think I really sunk my teeth into it. I feel these are the best lyrics I
have ever written in a style that I love. I was able to get my head around the stories, if I may say, in a profound
way. There are childhood memories, teenage reflections, my musician road exploits, and current dealings with the
scamps of mid-life and beyond.
Musically, I tried to approach the tunes in a more interesting way like start singing on a bridge instead of the
first verse. Then going to a chorus and never coming back to the verses. Some apparent influences ( at least,
apparent to me ) was artists like Sigur Ros, Type O Negative, Queen, and Mahavishnu Orchestra for over-all music
styles. This was by accident and unintentional. I’m sure you’ll hear some other meanderings of bands and players.
We are all music critics at the end of the day…aren’t we?
It is also worth mentioning some of the things I was reading during this time that certainly controlled my pen like
a plagiaristic planchett reading. The “HellFire Club” by Daniel P. Mannix, which is about a late Eighteenth Century
group of aristocrats, politicians, artists and other eminent European men who, under the stealth of night, held
meetings that included Satan worship, prostitutes, and a whole lot of drinking. This became a referential premise
for “Divalia”, which became, for me, the crux of the album. I hope to share the story ( my story, that is…) with you
sometime soon. Also, “I, Lucifer” by Glen Duncan, which is one the most brilliant works of fiction I have ever read.
There are stories abound on this album. But, there are also some very personal reflections weaved within. Unlike
many of Fragile Thoughts’ concepts, these are the most precious and intimate recollections and epiphanies I have
ever written about. I hope you enjoy it and cherish it half as much as I do.
Richard L McCorkell
August 2007