"Are you high??"

So this is how it works; I am the lyricist and melody writer in this humble project of ours called Ariya. My co-conspirator, Rawn Randall, comes up with all the great arrangements, production and bass playing.
This blog, I suppose, will be about where my inspirations come from lyrically and melodically. Lyrically would be easier to put on virtual paper for obvious reasons. There maybe more, there maybe less, there may be the regurgitations of an exasperated human being. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the ride.

It sounds absolutely clichéd, I suppose, to say that everyday situations inspire me. But the fact of the matter is that it is the everyday occurrences that do provide the best fuel for lyrics, most of the time. Relatable and accessible.
For instance, the lyrics to Rescue are about wanting to help someone, something and in rescuing them I believe I could find my own salvation. But the lyrics were written in a way that I hope will allow the listener to extract their own meaning that is relevant to their own life.

A scenario: A party, this person, a friend, has invited you. You're standing across the room trying to make conversation with people but your eyes don't leave this friend. His hand is around this other woman and he seems happy and content. As a friend you’re happy that he's happy, but you also feel punched in the gut. And he has no idea. And you're burning up inside with questions--some that make sense, some that make your eyes roll all the way to the back of your head. But you *need* to ask. Do you? Would you? Would it have disastrous consequences? Are you brave enough or idiotic enough to take the plunge?
This is the song ~Why~. I envisioned it, like a film strip in my head, and decided to write about it.

21C is a song that didn’t quite get coherent enough to be recorded but I still think the lyrics that I wrote for that song are some of the best that I have written.

Imagine you’re walking on 110^th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in NYC on a very rainy Saturday night. If you haven’t had the luxury (or misfortune) to visit that part of Manhattan, imagine a rainy night on a bar-infested road, where the bars are so tiny they spill on to the tar roads. You see the ‘regulars’ with their ‘usuals’; there seems to be a hush every time you pass a bar. ‘How empty’, you think. Your clothes are soaking wet but that’s not what’s weighing you down. A candle in a window on the third floor of a walk-up, one bell to ring and a missed opportunity is revealed, a question is answered, a decision is finally reached. Your problem is, sitting on the stoop of the building where there is that window with a candle and the doorbell to ring, do you want to know? Is the possible pain from the outcome of this revelation worth the risk or would you rather leave it as a question risking that the possible joy you might revel in just might be life-altering?

Again, the lyrics are tailored to fit any questions the listener is afraid to ask, perhaps. “Will I be transferred to a different country?”; “Did I pass the test?” “Should I leave this place and totally change my life?” or the most mundane of all…”Does he love me?”

Life’s about the meaning the mundane gives, the meaning of the grey between the stark blacks and whites. When the grey clears you see the Technicolour that puts definition, meaning and clarity in life. But where would we be without the mundane? Would we know that there was colour beyond if we couldn’t recognise the grey in front of us, constantly clouding our logic, judgement and emotions?

What do I know? These are just the ramblings of a singer/lyricist who’s trying to get an inspiration along the way. Or I could be drunk. You pick.

(I’d post the actual lyrics but I’m afraid of rights issues… understandably. Check us out on www.myspace.com/ariyamuse and www.myspace.com/ariyamuzak)