Finding HopeSounds Like Hope (Sunburst Sessions)
Posted on April 2, 2021
And here we have the third in the Sunburst Sessions videos, the acoustic version of ‘Sounds Like Hope’!
The arrangement of this song is already pretty minimal so stripping it back didn’t involve much; we just had to figure out how we wanted to do that. In the end, we decided to go with just a vocal and electric guitar, reflective of how we first wrote the song. The atmospheric sound of the guitar Richard was messing around with during the session just sounded like how I felt at the time and so it was very nostalgic to revisit that first version of the song when it felt so new and tentative and fragile.
Thank you to Richard Marc for accompanying me and for his part in the filming (Sunburst Sessions), Olivia (Olivia B-S Photography) for her work as the primary videographer of this video, and Nicky Trill for engineering.
Clarity (Sunburst Sessions)
Posted on March 26, 2021
So here is the second in the Sunburst Sessions videos, the acoustic version of ‘Clarity’!
Again, piano felt like a really good choice for this alternate version of ‘Clarity.’ I feel like the original really leaned into the feeling of desperation (inspired by the idea of chasing something you know is potentially bad for you but doing it anyway because it makes you feel better) and the claustrophobia that that feeling can create. But, to me at least, I think the piano and vocal version brings out some of the pain that can result in a person finding themselves in that place. There’s something about the sound of the piano that feels so desolate.
Again, thank you to Zefan Susanto for accompanying me, Richard Sanderson (Sunburst Sessions) and Olivia (Olivia B-S Photography) for filming, and Nicky Trill for engineering.
Bad Night (Sunburst Sessions)
Posted on March 19, 2021
And here is the first in the Sunburst Sessions videos, an acoustic version of ‘Bad Night’!
Given that the original version of the song is so big with so many different production elements, stripping it back to just the piano was really fun, if more than a bit nerve-wracking. It gave it a completely different feel. Where the original, fully produced version has a lot of tension and, I guess, angst in it, the piano version shows a vulnerable side to the song, reflecting how raw and draining the experience described can be. I really like how, even though it’s obviously still the same song, the different versions bring different emotions to the fore and may connect to be differently because of that, because of how differently people experience their struggles.
Thank you to Zefan Susanto for accompanying me, Richard Sanderson (Sunburst Sessions and Richard Sanderson Photography) and Olivia (Olivia B-S Photography) for filming, and Nicky Trill for engineering.
Finding Hope 