The making of “Master of Zen”

This was written and recorded during a very experimental and kind of a learning curve period in my career. This was one of the first few songs I ever independently produced when I first got access to a studio and it was a great deal of fun creating.

I remember from 2015-2018 I couldn’t have a guitar in my hands as much as I wanted to, I remember being inspired by the fast singing, almost rap like melodies and catchy hooks of Ed Sheeran, my music development coming out of that period looked more like me with a book, a pen and a phone just diving into literature and writing 3 sets of 16’s with a recurring hook to hip-hop instrumentals on Youtube.

Now rap may not be everyones cup of tea but I have always been English obsessed, in this obsession I have found that rappers are doing the most amazing and technical things that you can possibly do in English. I’m talking rhyme schemes, wordplay, multi-syllables, alliterations etc.. I feel this process did wonders for my songwriting today. In saying all of this, underground Australian rap and artists like 360, Greeley and The Hilltop Hoods were (in my opinion) doing some of the dopest things with English in the industry.

With access to a studio finally, my creativity was like a bat out of hell and I feel this song depicts exactly that.

I sent this song away to be mixed and mastered by Rohan Parry at MMAD Studios, in my original studio version I had rhythm guitar at the forefront of the mix and the lead guitar was more sparse and quieter giving the songs vibe more of an overall acoustic feel, Rohan did a brilliant job with the mix, fattening the Lead guitars up and making them take more of centre stage within the instrumental. It really pushed this song to becoming a polished Pop meets Aussie hip-hop track. This song was never officially released and only ever uploaded to Soundcloud. A Facebook post saw strong involvement from a younger demograph.

Spoiler alert! In years passed I have written and recorded a song called “Never Love” which I believe captures the essence of these two musical genres in a softer, more delicate light. Stay tuned.