Welcome to Track By Track, the series where artists take you through their latest creations in their own words. This time around, Melbourne-based alt-pop songwriter Tiaryn offers an inside look at Let Me Fall — an “outpouring of emotions and experiences surrounding the collapse of one long-term relationship and the blissful beginnings of another.”
Who Is This – About four months after breaking up I saw images of my ex partying heaps online which was a bit of a shock to me. And since we weren’t talking he felt like a stranger, someone I could barely recognise. ‘Who Is This’ was one of those rare songs that completely came to me one afternoon. I wrote it on my keyboard and then produced a full demo by the end of the day. It came together quite easily, and from there Lewis and I layered the track with real drums, guitars and more vocal layers.
Just Another Year – This song is very dear to me because it was the first song Lewis and I started collaborating on. I wasn’t sure if it was worth pursuing at the time because my demo was quite underdeveloped but Lewis believed in it so we began experimenting. The soundscape of it eventually evolved into a more organic and live sounding piece. I love singing this tune, the structure is weird and the raw lyrics make it so easy for me to immediately connect to song. I wrote the song in retrospect, looking at all the years we stayed together when we were clearly drifting apart.
The One – This song is so damn fun to play. It has a triumphant joy to it that totally mirrors how I feel about my current relationship. I’m so glad I had Lewis’ input on this track. I had made a great electronic demo but there was a fire and passion lacking from the track in the choruses. Lewis had the idea to create these huge band hits with stark space in between. I think it really makes the track.
Quicksand – Quicksand is kind of like an old friend, it’s had so many versions of itself. I think that’s because when I wrote it I immediately became very emotionally attached to it and knew I had to get the recording right. I wrote it at the time of all the drama, when I felt really guilty for things I’d done. It was an admission of fault and recognition of the holes that were in the relationship to begin with. The first demo I had was made with Lewis four years earlier! Then our friendship circles dispersed a little and I didn’t see him for while. I tried a few demos myself; one with an electronic beat but something didn’t feel right. Eventually, I realised I had to strip it back, and take a route similar to one of my favourite Frank Ocean tracks ‘Pink Matter’. That inspired me to ask my friend Tilman Robinson to arrange some strings for the track, and man did he blow me out of the water. The strings are unbelievably stunning, I’m so glad we did that.
Falling – About two years ago a few of my friends started a Facebook group to encourage regular songwriting. We’d have to upload something we’d written that week every Sunday. It was pretty effective in forcing us all to show up with something, even if it was underdeveloped. I wrote Falling during that time. It’s about the honeymoon phase, the initial infatuation slowly falling into a deeper connection. There’s the impending decision to commit to each other and you eventually have to leap without knowing if it’s going to work out.
