This song seems a little bit 'Pop' to me compared to what I usually write.  I think it's partly because I literally wrote this one in my sleep.  I was dreaming, and a girl was singing this song. I woke up all groggy-eyed and was humming the chorus while still half asleep and suddenly I snapped out of it and realized I didn't recognise the song I was singing and therefore I was likely the creator of it.  So I jumped out of bed, grabbed my guitar and the whole song came out in about 30 minutes.  The lyrcis were a little bit contrived as I tried to figure out what part of my life I should relate it to, but once it was done, I felt deeply connected to it.  

To this day I am a little bit hestitant about its resemblance to Pop songs as I don't want to appear to try to sound like something I'm not naturally about.  But I do like the song itself a lot.  So what do you think?

Credits:
Vocals, Piano, Strings (Synth): Dana-Marie Battaglia
Guitars, Bass: John Ellis
Drums: Geoff Hicks

LYRICS

This song was inspired by my lack of conviction when it comes to choosing a religion.  I was raised in a Christian household and as much as my parents tried, they were never able to convince me to dedicate myself to a single belief.  People feel something and label it according to what/who they've been influenced by in their life.  My gut tells me that everyone out there, no matter where they are, who they are, and what they believe - are really feeling the same thing regardless of what label (ie. religion) they put on it.  In this song I am challenging God to tell my why I should go to 'Hell' despite living a moral life.  If there was in fact only one specific way to get into 'Heaven', wouldn't it be a little more obvious?  Why would only one culture/part of the world have the answer and the rest left in the dark?  Dangerous territory to put my beliefs out there unsolicited, perhaps, but what good is art if we don't go there?

Credits:
Vocals, Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Synth, Synth Strings: Dana-Marie Battaglia
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Bass: John Ellis
Drums: Geoff Hicks

LYRICS

This song has always been my favourite and is one of the more complex pieces I've arranged. I included this on my self produced demo/ep in 2009 and as complete as I felt the composition was, I always wanted to hear it with some electric guitar and drums. When I played it live at shows with my synth acompaniment track, people would often come up to me and ask if I planned to do a version with drums and electric and my answer was always 'HELL YES!'. So the day when I sat in Vogville Studios in Vancouver, with Geoff Hicks saddled in at his drums and the track started playing... well... I was freaking excited. Geoff had the exact feel I was going for and knew exactly what to do in every moment of the song. I was so thrilled. Weeks later, when back up in Ashcroft, after playing with some mixing, my producer John Ellis finally got out his electric guitar. I remember the moment he started to play this wailing sound... I was like... ohhhhh, that's it, right there... oh yes. The man knew exactly what to do. All I did was sit back entranced and think how lucky I was to have such amazing musicians willing to lend their talent to me. 

Credits
Vocals, Piano, Synth Strings, Misc Synth, Acoustic Guitar: Dana-Marie Battaglia
Electric Guitar, Bass: John Ellis
Drums: Geoff Hicks

Click Here to hear the original demo that I produced in my home studio and released on my EP in July 2009.

LYRICS

The first time I played this song live, I cried right there on stage while singing it. It caught me off guard, as it wasn't until I started singing the song that I realised that the wound was still open, still fresh. This song arose from my depths last summer at a moment of devestation. It was just after a man that I care about lost all that he was working for, his dream, his passion and his purpose, due to a person that he made the mistake of trusting. It is still hard for me to truly grasp why it affected me personally so much, but after many sleepness nights and fits of sobbing, I realised that the trauma was induced by the sudden disappearance of my ability to forgive. Suddenly, my entire foundation of understanding and compassion was shattered. The methods I had been using to get over past issues throughout my life were... void... I had no tools. No way to deal with the pain. I couldn't understand how this person could intentionally hurt, how he could seem to even thrive on it. And so, without being able to understand, I couldn't forgive. After I wrote the song, I realised quickly afterwards that the "you" in the lyrics was in fact me. It sounds a little strange, but the song is a dialogue my subconscious must have been having with myself before I really realised what the root of the hurt was.

Originally I did a demo of this song in my studio with all of its accompaniment in about 3 hours, then 2 years later I handed it over to John.  He really connected with it and didn't want to change anything.  So he just got me to re-sing the vocals, he rerecorded the guitar and added some bass, then he mixed it in just such a way that all the emotion seemed to come right to the surface.  I was blown away by what he was able to do.  Even though so little changed, I really feel this song is on a whole new plain of existence now.

Credits
Vocals, Piano, Synth, Synth Percussion: Dana-Marie Battaglia
Acoustic Guitar, Bass: John Ellis

LYRICS

Credits:
Vocals, Piano, Acoustic Guitar: Dana-Marie Battaglia
Electric Guitars, Organ Synth, Bass: John Ellis
Drums: Geoff Hicks
Congas: Chris Ochs

LYRICS

Breathe in my dear.
It will calm your fears,
calm your fears,
dry your tears,
calm your fears.

Aand it will go away.
It will go away.
Your pretty eyes will shine again.

Bbreathe out my love.
You will rise above,
rise above,
feel this love,
rise above.

And it will go away.
It will go away.
Your pretty eyes will shine again.
 

I'd like to dedicate this song to all the star crossed lovers out there.  Sometimes your love is just meant to be and sometimes it's just meant to be worked for.  I wish you all the strength in the world to overcome your barriers and find yourselves together at last.
This song has been through quite a journey. We  restarted it no less than 4 times. Twice was due to technical issues and the other two times was because it just didn't feel right. I have a lot of different versions and stages of this song on my hard drives, too many really. What we ended up going with was a throw back to 'Roy Orbison'.That explains why you can't really place it in any genre of today (and if you can, let me know what you come up with!). I love Roy Orbison, and have grown to accept this quirky, strange version of my song. I am really happy with the string arrangement I composed in it, but it's hidden way back in there in the mix.This is mainly because I obviously couldn't afford a whole orchestra to play it and the synth I programmed just can't do it justice. Oh well, one day, one day... :)

LYRICS