"Things Fall Apart" Track By Track
ANTAGONIST - Antagonist was actually going to be the original title of this work, because this project was actually closely related to another body of work I'd actually produced before making this one. However, that plan was scrapped. I knew from the beginning that water had to be a big part of the soundscape, so I took a sample of water flowing. I wanted Antagonist to "open" this story of sorts. I wanted it to be haunting and brooding, mostly because this story I'm about to tell is pretty much that.
GOLD - Gold was one of the first songs I actually recorded anywhere. The original recorded version was actually a bit faster and without auto-tune, but at the midnight hour, I was frustrated with the vocals and slapped on auto-tune and felt like it was the missing track from 808s and Heartbreak (I'm a big Kanye fan) so I kept it. Lyrically, its about discovery and exploration, but also greed and chaos.
THINGS FALL APART - The title track of the album is very much inspired by the novel. Between the novel and some other foolishness I was going through at the time, this project came together. The lyrics in this song are inspired by both. "Oh was it my fault, look at all this hell what I've wrought, this mass of graves".
CRUEL MAN - Cruel Man is my favorite track. I produced and wrote the track the day before releasing the EP. After finally deciding to hold off on "Fool", I felt desperate to replace it with something. I launched Hookpad and put together some chords, then found a folder of MIDI drum patterns, and the sound came together. The whole "Cruel Man" thing came from the quote repeated in "Gold", "Perhaps down in his heart, Okonkwo was not a cruel man." For some reason, I'm actually obsessed with that quote because it reminds me of the ways we justify our violence. We have to remind ourselves of our innocence, or at least hope it offers salvation. With the song, I wanted to personify him. FKA twigs' "Weak Spot" was on my mind when I was coming up with lyrics, so I whispered some stuff into the microphone and thus "Cruel Man" was born.
WE'LL CARRY THE SUN - We'll Carry the Sun is tied with the title track for second favorite. It's one of the many songs I've written for my friends who've kept me afloat this far.
EVOLUTION (OUTRO) - Evolution is actually a larger song, but I wanted to close TFA as it opened, a soundscape of water and anticipation. And then you have the closing sample. The story of African colonization is old as time, but people often speak of it as the past as if it's not happening today. Entrepreneurship, business, and collaboration is always praised, but now in this political moment where everything is for sale, African nations giving up their natural resources for even the most innocent of deals is to be met with the most scrutiny. The game ain't too different. It's just changed.
Stream and download the album here.