Singled Out: Fractures' Twisted

Fractures just released "EP III" and to celebrate we asked mastermind Mark Zito to tell us about the hit song that started it all "Twisted". Here is the story:

I hadn't done much singing on my own before this song came about. I was forced to do backing vocals at a show for a band I used to play bass with and I could barely muster a whimper.

Ultimately it made me curious as to how I would sound on a recording so I tried it out. The music around my voice needed to change from the pop-rock instrumentals I was writing up until that point so I started messing around with some different sounds that were a bit less organic. Synths, drum samples, etc.

One or two songs came from the initial investigation and the positive feedback I got in return carried me through to the next experiment which resulted in "Twisted".

The first verse had existed in another form, with some vaguely tribal sounding drum beat; a different, higher key; and much more stripped back but I could never find the enthusiasm to take it further.
Conversely, once I started making the musical bed for Twisted, my enthusiasm to write a melody and especially lyrics(which I hate writing) wasn't there so I had the novel idea of just transplanting a pre-made one.
Maybe it was fate, or perhaps just laziness. We'll never truly know but I'm glad it turned out the way it did.

This didn't solve the problem of a chorus hook entirely but the tone of the lyrics from the other tune definitely set the tone and theme. In saying that, I was very much in my songwriting adolescence as far as lyrical structure and as much as anything, having anything meaningful to write about, so the whole idea of someone being "twisted, and pushing you away" was just my attempt at being as dark, mysterious and ultimately as vague as I possibly could be in the lyrics so as to set the scene for the unsuspecting listener but not provoke too many questions as to what they actually meant. I simply didn't know. They just sounded right, and for many songs since then I have employed the same strategy.

My approach for this song and most that followed was to write with a 5-piece band in mind. The limitation meant I had to be creative about filling the space with the few options I had as opposed to producing a brick wall of sound(which I do now) to make the song sound "big". In essence that left me with two guitar parts, bass, keys and vocals to play with so I did my best with what I had.

There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the process that followed but I finished the song. Felt good about it so decided I'd post it up on Soundcloud and give it a share on my personal Facebook just to make doubly sure someone actually heard it.

From memory I didn't have a pseudonym at this stage so I had a brief think about it and found the word Fractures to be somewhat fitting of the dark, moody vibe I thought I would carry through with until my dying days, and after getting mixed feelings about it from those around me, decided to just use it anyway, and here we are.

The positive feedback was overwhelming for me at the time, but was genuine and from it came a management deal through some family connections. Without a whole heap of fuss in between, the song ended up getting spins on the radio, doing the online trending thing and giving me serious pause for thought regarding what I'd do for the rest of my life.
Things trended upwards and I was playing shows and festivals, releasing more music to generally warm responses and at some point in time it lead me to making this thing a full time gig. So I'm thankful I followed my curiosity.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and check out the new EP here

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Singled Out: Fractures' Twisted