All these things are true..
Better With You was originally written for, and inspired by, a close friend, as a 'feel better soon'. Their likes included peppermint tea, hot water bottles, and carrot cake. It didn't take long before the song grew its own legs, and before long, drums, strings and even brass found their way onto it.
The song's musical direction was heavily influenced by The Beatles. This next part is a little music heavy but for those who are interested, this is how the process came to be. Though the C & Fmaj7 chords gave it the bop along, it was the G7 that created that classic Beatles-y feel (we thought anyway). With this progression it felt only natural to fill the song full of wonderful, bright, common place things that could put a smile on your face.
To achieve the sounds wanted, a collective jazz pack was gotten for the music creation software, Ableton. This allowed for much more musical diversity than the standard guitar, drum, bass background with some strings. The Beatles were famed for experimenting with any instrument they could grab in studio. Percussive, stringed, wind, you name it. And considering a driving force behind the song was a Beatles flavoured chemistry, it seemed only right to do the same.
The drum line plays a simple rhythm, accented by a family of different percussive cousins like many varying bongos and even the famed triangle.
Originally the vocals only had Adam and a few highlighted harmonies. It was Adrian that added the engaging harmony lines, particularly at the end. This rounded out the full sound of the song.
The thumbnail took loads of time to get right. With the energy a song gives off, visually it has to be represented well. Digging through old photos, Adam eventually found one of the always lovely and ever so talented friend of theirs. Claudie! The full photo features her with her old rockin' pink hair, looking out over the West coast of Ireland during a drive towards Lahinch, Co. Clare in 2018.
- As a fun little side note, the lyrics for the first verse were originally; "An eighteenth century Victorian flower vase", before Adam googled when the Victorian era actually was. It was then promptly changed to; "A nineteenth century-"
We hope you enjoy it and love it with as much fun as we had making it! We hope your day is bright and cheery, and here's to the wonderful things you do.
Peace, love & music
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