BACKGROUND

“Where Were You” is Embers’ fifth official release. This song was revived from the vault; I wrote it probably 12 years ago, if not longer. Back then, it was just an acoustic guitar and my vocals, with ideas for harmonies and instrumentation that I never completed. At the time, it was inspired by the breakup of a couple I knew. There was an affair, and the eventual exposure of the truth. During that time, I was aware of the situation, but at the behest of the friend having the affair, I chose not to tell the other person. As it turned out, they eventually confessed and things unfolded from there. I had some guilt about my silence, which is part of what the song looks at.

Being a product of divorced parents (due to infidelity), I have always had strong emotional associations with this subject matter. The lyrics are definitely much more fictionalized and intensified than the actions that inspired them; in the song, the protagonist is subject to intentional malice and emotional manipulation, which was not the case in reality.

LYRICS

Hold on, let me explain; arts of this story untold still remain

Closer, I’ll whisper the truth; hen you can decide if it means much to you

And all that you’ve heard here are lies

But all that you wanted

Was someone to hold you and be by your side

Hold on, don’t walk away; now that you know this things can’t be the same

Answers can seem like a curse, but ignorant bliss always ends up much worse

And all that you’ve heard here are lies

And all you were granted

Is someone to haunt you and be by your side

All of these things you’re putting me through

Can’t just be something you casually do

Looking for needles in haystacks of pins

Pricking my fingers while you shed your skin

Fearing the worst and getting it, too

Don’t think that karma won’t bite back at you

Just one last question I’ll need to ask you

Where were you?

THE MUSIC

On the musical side, this song allowed me to stretch out a bit further. The song starts with an acoustic ballad-style intro, building into a more lush arrangement including a string section, climaxing with much heavier-style middle and end sections. As I have been doing on other Embers releases, I enjoyed layering a lot of different vocal harmonies and other textures. This one even has a good ol’ proper guitar solo.

I’ve been playing my Strandberg Prog 7 string guitar a lot, and wanted to get some more beefy, down-tuned chugging, albeit in the context of the broader arrangement. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I am absolutely loving all the Neural DSP amp plugins; the Archetype: Nolly guitar amp plugin and Darkglass Ultra bass plugin were indispensable for this song. If you are a recording guitarist/bassist, I can’t recommend these enough.

I have also been diving deeper and deeper into Superior Drummer 3 for programming the drum tracks. It is an amazing program, and I have been learning more and more about how to “think like a drummer” when building out beats to make things more realistic. I have much more to learn, but I am happy with how things came out for this song.