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Marrying Lyrics to Structures

”My two favorite things when it comes to songwriting are lyrics and structures. I’m most happy with my songs when the lyrics and the structures are married together in an interesting way, when a change in feeling, pace or dynamics reinforces the story I’m trying to tell. I have found that this does not happen by either writing the music and then matching the lyrics to the structure, nor from writing the lyrics and then building a structure around them. It happens slowly and simultaneously, in a maddening process, that involves me playing my acoustic guitar and saying anything that comes into my head until magically the guitar and the words sync up. It’s very important to me that I have a gestation period where I can enjoy endless malleability. I know a song is done when I can play it on the acoustic guitar and it feels complete.” -Gus