The Song Wasn’t The Problem

I had the foundation of the song I’d been working on “Rain in Purple Frontiers” locked down. The weird, gritty “purple organ” riff I took from a 2022 Twitch stream we did, a heavy, driving beat I added inspired by Slayer’s “Raining Blood”, and a cold, detached 80s art-rock synth atmosphere that felt straight out of an early Peter Gabriel track.

As far as the instrumental skeleton with this genre mashup, I was digging it.

But, I had no idea what I was going to sing on it.

For for several days, I had been trying to write vocals for it. I tracked melody after melody. I tried being clean; I tried being heavy. Nothing really worked for me. I was genuinely ready to give up on the track and move on. But I really liked the music and didn’t want to lose it.

Note: Sometimes I think I’ll just stop working on a track and come back to it later. But it also risks the possibility of me forgetting about it altogether.

The Pursuit, The Frustration, and The Riffing

So, I decided to do something dumb.

I didn’t turn off the mic. I didn’t close Ardour. Instead, I clicked record and decided to fail as loudly and awkwardly as possible.

I didn’t write any lyrics. I didn’t plan a melody. I just ran a “random riffing” session. I let my vocals just react to the dark, sci-fi instrumental track. I mumbled. I yelled, whatever, just to see if anything would stick.

Then, somewhere into the session, this weird, unplanned phrase came out:

“I guess it’s not Valentine’s Day.”

I liked that it was oddly specific and yet completely out of context.

And it instantly unlocked everything.

The Resolution & The Birth of the Vagabond Character

That one accidental lyric became the narrative anchor.

Suddenly, I had a melody idea and a flow. That single line built the identity of the “Vagabond” an old flame trying to reconnect after years.

Once the character had a voice, the rest of the puzzle fell into place:

• The Verses: Built like a reading of an old, forgotten letter.
• The Chorus: A heavy, internal anxiety of trying to bridge a gap that is too wide to cross.

Here is the finished song:

This session changed “Rain in Purple Frontiers” from a music experiment into a real song.