Music

“Jack's Quest” was the first song I wrote after getting the music program, Logic. It isn’t the most complicated song I’ve written, but it’s still good for a listen. It will always be special to me.

“Jack's Lullaby” was originally written as a lullaby, but ultimately I wasn’t happy with the way it turned out. My knowledge of Logic was pretty minimal, so I couldn’t ever get it to sound the way I wanted. I’ll eventually go back and fix it now that I know what I’m doing.

“Jack's Dance” was created only a few days after Jack Attack. I was listening to a lot of trance music as I wrote my books and I always liked the ones with pianos, so I wanted a song I could write to. Kevin really liked one of the tracks in this song, so I made an extended edition as well.

“Jack's Voice” forced me to really pay attention to the positioning of my notes. I wanted several different triplet tracks weaving in and out of the song to see if I could cohesively make something that sounded good. I was happy with the way it turned out.

“Jack Attack”, in my mind, graduated me out of the beginner category. Inspiration doesn’t come any stronger than this. I literally started and finished this song in 45 minutes. I recorded two piano tracks straight through, then put them together into what you now hear. The two songs before this were just warmups and a way for me to learn Logic.

“Jack's War” was so named because of the voice solos in the middle of the song. This idea was inspired by the first Lord of the Rings movie, right after Gandalf died, and by the slow-motion music scene at the end of the first battle of Gladiator. I guess brutality breeds beauty.

“Jack's Mommy” was the second of three songs that didn’t have a drum beat. This is also another song that took less than a hour to make. I was going to edit the song down, but ultimately left the piano part as it was originally recorded. Erin was the total inspiration for this song.

“Jack and Zach” was written on the night of Zach Kensinger’s birth. They have since become great friends. The meandering harp in the background of the song was inspired by two background viola notes on the Batman Begins soundtrack. This is one of my favorites.

“Jack's Guitar” is probably my favorite song on this first album. I wanted to see if I could make a keyboard sound like a guitar. I had to create the strummed chords note by note. It turned out better than I expected, but still all of the chords sound liked they’re downward strummed. Oh well.

“Jack's Real Lullaby” is a tune I’ve been playing on the piano for years, possibly since high school. At times it’s been bombastic and other times, like this, it’s a sweet soft tune perfect for putting babies to sleep. I consider this his true lullaby.

Here’s “Jack's Dance (Kevin Remix)”.