Singled Out: Royal Hunt's Hard Rain Coming

Some songs developing slowly, over a long period of time - they kind of creating themselves in your mind� days go by and you�ll be "revisiting" something what used to be a vague idea only to discover that it already grown a bit bigger, a bit more defined.

"Hard Rain�s Coming" came to life in that fashion: I wanted a song which will start up slow and "fragile" and develop into an "all-stops-pulled" anthem and yet with a middle part/verse � connecting the intro and a climax (chorus) � being somehow different, carrying a lazy, laid back vibe without losing a steady pulse. Lyrically I was imagining a feeling of a hesitated longing/searching and a bombastic, overpowering contra punctual punch line.

An intro came first: a harpsichord with its glass-like, lofty sound created a nice contrast to a melody line sung in a deep, airy voice suddenly pushed aside by a heavy pounding rhythm section. Verses became an odd combination of dragged, sleepy and behind the beat vocals over a steady, staccato beat with furious harpsichord arpeggios tying it all together.
An unexpected bonus arrived as the backing singers went with an exaggerated operatic approach in the chorus, creating a larger-than-life sound which � combined with the open and polyphonic sounding band � hit the listener with an impact of epic proportions.

The biggest challenge was the final mixing: it took two full days in the studio to get all these parts to fit together sonically; constantly moving faders to underline the ever-changing dynamics of the track, tweaking reverbs/delays between verses (tight and in-your-face) and choruses (huge and dominating).

By the end of the day it was all worth it: a song became the first single from Royal Hunt�s "Show Me How to Live" album available in US through EMI � check it out.