Singled Out: The Ivory Piece's Silhouettes

Indie rockers The Ivory Piece released their new single "Silhouettes" from their debut EP and to celebrate we asked Stephen Webber to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

I was an 80s child. I also grew up on easy listening. I never wrote "Silhouettes" with either in mind, but like every one of my songs, I never know how or where things will end up. There's adventure in that.

I don't recall much of the songwriting process of "Silhouettes." I just remember that, as it was developing, I noticed some pretty strong, passing similarities (of the first half, at least) toward a particular easy listening song that many of us 80s kids probably remember. I'm not sure if others will agree with me, but the verse sections remind me of a certain duet from 1986, sang by a certain soap opera actress and an already established R&B singer. This song was also featured in Family Guy, for what it's worth. I don't want to name the song, but I'm curious if some of the readers can figure it out. My engineer/co-producer and I wanted to make sure we only flirted with the easy listening vibe, that it maintained some edge to it. I think it was a success, and it was both fun and stressful riding that line (it's a hard line to ride): how much saccharine can we get away with? The second half of the song moves closer to shoegaze and post punk, with some fugue-like tritones in six-measure segments.

Then there are the lyrics, which, if one were to take a closer look, would see the overt sexuality and fetishism. I normally don't write songs with a particular individual in mind, but this one was an exception. She doesn't know I wrote it about her, and we don't speak anymore. I won't go into it more than that, and I'll leave the analysis up to others.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the EP right here!

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