My latest single, “Rise Up,” is out now on all platforms (aka “the plats,” according to my son).
The song came to me after a swim in the community pool. I was exhausted and telling myself to keep going. As I came out of the pool, the world looked blurry, and I imagined that same feeling as we navigate relationships with ourselves and others.
As I belted out verse ideas on the drive home, hoping to remember them, I felt the song needed to drive somewhere. I came home, played piano, and laid down a floor-tom groove. Then the song sat around for a year or so until I met Zach Shipps. He picked it from a group of demos that I sent him, and so we teamed up to record a studio version of the track.
Zach was a neighbor of my wife Amber way back in the 90s when she used to go hear his “Atomic Numbers” band. I looked him up and liked his production approach, and his guitar work is stellar. Zach definitely leans toward a rock aesthetic, which I'm perfectly at home with after growing up in Seattle in the 90s.
We made the record from two different rooms. I recorded my vocals and drums in my home studio and sent them over. Zach did the rest. He played all the guitars and basses, turned my drums into something bigger and fuller, and built the song into a more rock-oriented arrangement, blending textures and sounds together. Some of the guitars sound like synths (all Zach's excellent handiwork).
When I first heard his guitar work, I had to smile. He has a great tone, right on the edge of feeding back, with the right amount of reverb. We caught up on Zoom a couple of times to tune things up.
The last line of the song, "Am I just a martyr hiding underwater?", wasn't written. It was an improv, and it felt like it belonged, so we kept it.
Zach (@zshipps on Instagram) runs RV Audio Lab and has recorded, mixed, or mastered a long list of bands, including many albums with Electric Six, a remix for Ladytron, and guitar work with Brendan Benson.
You can stream Rise Up here:
Love to hear what you think of the song! Please share if you’re inspired, and thank you for taking the time to read my musings here.
Dave
click link to stream or purchase
Rise Up by Dave Hill Jr.
I’ve got my head underwater
with my eyes open wide
I see sun through the breaker
Waves are blurring the light
I’ve got my head in the ocean
Escaping the tide
Now I’m sinking without motion
No more waves I can ride
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
I Wanna Rise
You’ve got your head underwater
What are you trying to hide?
Now you're swimming with no meaning
You’re along for the ride
You've got your mind in the litter
And your soul is for sale
There’s plastic in the current
You see where we will fail
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
I Wanna Rise
I don't think I can give you up again
I don’t think I can lift you up again
It’s a humble equation
When we take to the sea
I'm face down in a tide pool
That's where they'll bury me
I rest my head on a tombstone
looking down at the earth
I've forgotten what we buried,
Digging in our own dirt
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
I want to rise
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
Rise Up Rise Up Rise Up
I want to rise, I wanna rise
Am I just a martyr hiding underwater?
Credits:
Written by Dave Hill Jr.
Vocals, piano, drums: Dave Hill Jr.
Produced by Zach Shipps
Bass & guitars: Zach Shipps
Mixed by: Zach Shipps
Mastered by: Zach Shipps
