Saltblind

Note: This post was written in 2025 and backdated to appear on the day I wrote and published the track.

I almost started this post with, “Well, here we go back to Lo-Fi Land” except that I realized this track was actually my first intentional flirtation with the genre. I say “intentional” because I’ve been writing these types of tracks for years and years, but I always called them beats, demos, or sketches. They certainly weren’t complete works, but something to be fleshed out later.

Then I discovered the Lo-Fi station on Apple Music (there are similar ones on any major streaming service) and learned that it’s officially become a thing, and that thing is something that I have trouble embracing. Simple riff, under two minutes, often no real ending… it’s barely something I could call a “real” track. And yet there are thousands of these, and getting far more plays than my “real” tracks have.

Most of the ones I’ve heard follow this formula: Theme introduction, solo verse or B section, theme, solo 2, theme, hard ending. There are minor variations, the most common of which is not to bother with the solo / B sections but just playing the theme 3-5 times. As the kids would say, “it’s a vibe.”¹I don’t actually know if that’s what the kids would say.

There’s also typically a signature sound: nostalgia shot through a blurry lens. Most often, this means lots of saturation, tape warbles, high pass filters, record static, and reverb. Lots and lots of reverb. It’s warm and gooey, sometimes to the point of unintentional satire.

Follow the Herd or Path Less Travelled?

A big part of the challenge for me to do this is to actually stick to the formula and not try to make things complicated. This is, apparently, supposed to be wallpaper music, so my approach in writing one should be more akin to writing an underscore for film. It sets and supports a mood without taking your attention away from whatever is supposed to be the focus.

Ok. So simple theme development, heavy reliance on some over the top effects, and no need to stick the landing. You know what? This actually should be right up my alley.

How Many Tropes to the Center?

The opening synth bit is straight up Boards of Canada stuff. It’s also a holdover from the track I started before pivoting to Lo-Fi. So right off the bat, we’ve got warbly distortion, saturation and reverb boxes checked. Let’s go ahead and get that record static started. Get some reverb on that snare! Hell, put verb on the entire drumkit!! All that’s left is the ABABA form and we’ll be on Easy Street.

There’s not a ton else to discuss about the production. I doubt this one took me more than an hour or two from opening the project to final bounce. And that’s where my struggle begins. I’ve mentioned elsewhere that I once pulled the “Do not avoid what’s easy” card from Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies deck. This was easy and didn’t feel like work. It’s the kind of thing that I haven’t put out because anyone could do it (even if that’s not really true).

If I hadn’t been such a zealot about avoiding “easy”things, I might have had a very different life. For some reason, though, I always want to do it the “right” way or the “work” way.

Colophon

Instruments & Samples

XO, Omnisphere, Pigments, MOTU Polysynth

Effects, Mixing, & Mastering

FabFilter, Gullfoss, Valhalla VintageVerb, Delay, & Plate, Waves Renaissance Bass & Abbey Road Vinyl

Image Credit: Asibasm (CC-BY-SA 4.0)

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Notes

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  I don’t actually know if that’s what the kids would say.