So something happened at the end of 2016 and kicked into overdrive in January and February of 2017 for me. I started writing songs again! And, for once, I stopped trying to write an epic song every time I wrote something. Phil and I did yet another challenge, and by the end of January I had written 12 songs for that, leaving me feeling pretty good about myself. However, I decided to also participate this year in FAWM, and, in the theme of just trying to write without overthinking, I challenged myself to write literally at least one song every single day in February.

And I did it. 🙂 (I actually wrote two songs on February 5th, FWIW).

I’m not going to lie, I am only posting this post so I’d have a record of which songs I wrote in which order for future me to reflect on, but, admit it, you’re not reading this anyway!

Pre-FAWM:

1. The Calling Of The Oomphad
2. In The Midst Of All The Fuss
3. The Tale Of The Acorn
4. Love Is Stupid
5. Expectations
6. Big Words
7. Don’t Make Me
8. Still That Kid
9. Trying To Tell
10. Clinging
11. For The Right Reasons
12. The Only Thing
13. I Was Only Being Me

FAWM:

1. Blue Balloon
2. Forever Lost To The Ether
3. Mortal Enemies
4. People Keep Dying
5. Grue Pattibrand
6. Waiting
7. Mr. Calvarew
8. Winning
9. The Bottom
10. Traffic
11. Reluctant
12. The Message Of Your Arrival
13. The Tenth Turangalila Blues
14. No One Noticed
15. The Rain
16. If I Were An Almond
17. A Favorite Flower
18. Smells Like Rain
19. What I Called You
20. Gone
21. Bad Baby Ducks
22. People Suck
23. Effort
24. Today
25. Getting Old Sucks
26. Out Of Hand
27. Bad Luck Love
28. Some Me
29. My Last Song

Back in 2009, Phil Taylor and I challenged each other to make a new album.  The idea was that neither of us were producing enough material, so we invented the challenge to force us to produce something. The result for me was The Threshold of Omniscience, which contains some of my best lyrics and songs to date.  Given the success of that, we decided to make a new challenge this year.

We added a few more rules this time around.  We had from November 11, 2011 to February 12, 2012 to make a new album of 7-10 songs.  We also made a stipulation that one of the songs lyrics had to make the alphabet with the first letter of each line, and we both chose a theme and a list of words that the other had to use in the album.

For me, Phil chose the theme “a childhood memory/childhood memories” and the following words:  glib, quid pro quo, unambiguous, dichotomy, garish, permission, strategy, illuminate, blanket, mansion.

Once the album was done, we submitted the lyrics to one another and each of us chose the other’s album title.

So, with no further ado, I am happy to announce that the videos for Within The War Without Without The War Within are now live on YouTube.  (The playlist should be embedded below.)

Take a listen and tell me what you think!

High quality mp3s are also free to download on the album page.