track 10 - the hubris of boys

The meaning

This song came out of working with and observing young men, in their early twenties, who are so intent on their place in the world that they completely ignore the good being handed to them and the sacrifices made for them. It’s not just about people being ungrateful in life, but I feel this is specific to a particular age of men, bullish, unknowingly unkind and selfish.

In contrast you see those same men a few years later and something has happened. They’ve fallen in love, or had children or met hardships and all the bravado and pride seems to have melted away a bit.

The music

From the minute I wrote it I knew it needed a male vocal to accompany the main vocal. I really felt both musically and emotionally it needed that balance, to make it more of a story, a wistful reminiscing. I invited Bob Fischer to come and record the backing vocals. His voice had exactly the sweetness and presence the song needed. He also added in some backing vocal arrangement which I really love.

Even though I wanted it to be acoustic in style I did end up adding in a synth arpeggiator to give it that dreamlike mood. The hardest part was getting the mix of the vocals right and getting it to sound like I imagined it. It took a lot of panning and EQ tweaking.