Mesmerized

Shimmering light
Radiates from afar
It reaches my heart
And pulls me inside

Guided by a luminous glow
Following the path and leaving the shadows
hearing a voice an echoing call
Wondering what lies behind these ancient walls

My facade seems so frail and thin
Bright warmth illuminates my skin

Swallow me whole
Embrace my broken soul

Blazing flames ignite a spark of fear
Will it disappear or stay?

Mesmerized by a luminous glow
Surrounded by light dispelling the shadows
Beautiful fire healing my core
Insatiable desires glowing evermore

COLLABS / EVIA / SINGLES

4:23 - Vocals, Handpan, Otherworldly

Cover design by Lexi

Mesmerized is a song with quite the funny story. After having met the three EVIA members randomly at a festival in 2022, I had some recording sessions with Julia, who plays the guitar and, together with her bass-playing sister Eva, makes up the unique EVIA vocal ensemble. After having recorded Deserts (Postlude), I became more engaged with the band and, not a long time after, found Julia asking me whether I wanted to collaborate on a single with my violin. I was amazed by the idea and soon they sent me a first demo, which immediately found its way to my heart. Something about the repetitive handpan rhythm and the beautiful melodic direction mesmerised me immediately, and I brainstormed some violin ideas for the song. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and we were all sitting in my small flat in Karlsruhe, perfectly equipped with guitar, bass, a cajon, and a handpan, sovereignly played by EVIA's drummer Christoph. I had never before recorded a song with a band, so I didn't have any plan how to set it up and which steps to follow, but two days of full-time music later, we had almost everything we wanted.

After having recorded the instrumentals, we went on and recorded the vocals. And boy oh boy, was and still am I fascinated by Eva's and Julia's ability to perfectly hit notes. Some Melodyne treatment is almost unavoidable nowadays, but it was strictly amazing opening up the vocal stems and often times seeing deviations of less than 10ct in each direction. Sick.

Anyway, the post-processing is something I am especially proud of with this song. Even though I hadn't yet heard of the art of mastering a track, I still added quite the huge amount of effects to it, which makes up for the minimal lack of fidelity in some areas. Eva's bass in the beginning for example features a shimmer reverb in order to give it a more "sparkling", "magical" feel. On lines like "Shimmering Light", you can hear the shimmer in the background, this time played with a high-pitched synth. This song does have some synthesisers in it after all, if you listen closely, during the same part, you can also hear a pad in the background.

Later, after the first Chorus, my violin becomes part of the soundscape with shimmering (again) flageolets and lots of reverb. Listen how it smoothly complements Julia's line "illuminates my skin". I like mirroring the meaning of lyrics in my music. Later on, we have a violin solo, which I recorded in quite the stupid place - a hallway at the entrance of my flat. Thought that might give a good sound. Kids, don't do that.

I also quite enjoy the last Chorus of the song, where everything picks up quite the pace yet again.