Where Do You Go?
“Where Do You Go?”, the first single from our new act Roe’s Garden is officially out now, available wherever you stream music. Here’s the Spotify link: kapow! Quick little bit about this song -
The first time I ever played the piano interlude that you hear on the record was July 22, 2019. I was working on season one of Wu Tang: An American Saga (more on this soon) and I had one of those lucky moments where something just comes out of your fingers. The voice memo on my phone is simply titled, “A Waltz”.
I proceeded to play this waltz theme just about every day after that. No progress was usually made - I just sat at the piano long enough to run out of ideas and play the old ones again. Plus, I think it’s pretty and I like hearing it so I played it. You have to make yourself happy in this life.
Fast forward to October 20, 2020 in the midst of the pandemic and while in the studio I finally get the melody idea for the song. I asked my girlfriend at the time for the first words that came to her mind and she replied “where do you go”. So the lyrics were born. The waltz, however, remained a separate idea.
Early in 2021 I recorded the first demo of the song, still sans waltz. I did it like a doo-wop, recording three background vocals to sing the chord progression and some of the extra lines that made it into the final, and I sang the whole melody. I showed this demo to my co-publisher - it fell flat. The song got put away, unless for whatever reason, I just wanted to hear it one day.
Cut to March of 2022. Erica had been coming by the house to sing and play around with ideas for a couple months by then, and I got curious as to what it would sound like if she sang it. Now we got a song. After a couple times through, she asked me to sing the second verse. A duet? Interesting. Run with it.
It was starting to sound pretty nice but it was still just four chords over and over. So we added Alex on the bass. We broke it down all the way to one single note and some crickets from the backyard one night and made everyone wait for it. A distant warped vocal from Understanding to give it some space. We added some subtle elements one by one while Erica took us to the chorus, where I met her for the second verse and another time through and finally, we added in the waltz idea. They should’ve been together the whole time.
Ten months later, it’s finally available for the world to hear. So the next time you find yourself asking an idea “where do you go?”, just be patient. Let it take you there.
-J.P.