flood from memoirs by drumfish

One of the most interesting parts about the song “Flood” is the odd metered choruses. At first none of us were exactly sure what the meter was but after counting it out, it turns out to be in 11/4 time, or you could maybe say that it alternates between 5/4 and 6/4. Though there is an 11 beat pattern played 4 times for a total of 44 beats. 90% of all “popular” music will be in 4/4 time, the other 10% is in 3/4 or some variation of that like 6/4 or 12/4. Very rarely will you see anything else unless you’re listening to Frank Zappa. “Solsbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel is in 7/4 as it “Money” by Pink Floyd. There are occasionally songs in 5/4 as well. But we’re not sure of anything that is in 11/4 (please bring it to our attention if you do know of anything).

Alex played the song this way instinctively and brought it to the table when we were gathering material for “Memoirs”. Each of us added our parts to it but the most interesting part is Aaron’s drum pattern. He plays in 4/4 time while the rest of the band is staying in 11/4. It’s similar to what Jon Bonham did in the Led Zeppelin song “Kashmir”. He played in 4/4 while the rest of the band was in 3/4. And contrary to popular belief, this was intentional. It’s not that Aaron can’t count.

Lyrically the song is full of water imagery. It breathes of the idea that within us there is some kind of well. And that at some point, when one is ready, the waters of this well stir a higher instinct, an inexplicable compulsion to seek a further understanding and to reconsider one’s personal situation and the general human condition. “The rest is up to me” the song states numerous times realizing that despite the numerous and onerous obstacles in his way he must do something. The protagonist in our “Memoirs” story has finally turned a corner in his journey.

There is even a “shout-out” to Nikola Tesla in the song. In the middle section the line goes “On the rocks with Tesla’s boxes”. This is a tribute to Alex’s work with energy physics and his admiration of Tesla. Alex’s work incorporates new theories on math and their relationship to spirituality and physics. The rest of us have embraced his theories and have used it as part of the decision making process for the sequencing of the songs. Each number, zero through 9, has a particular meaning and we lined up the track numbers of the songs to match. For more on this see the B-sides to “No Hesitation” and “Already Home”. For a lot more on this see his blog http://www.alexpetty.com/.

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