Singled Out: Polychuck's Beating Myself Down

Keavin Wiggins | 07-28-2021

Polychuck just released his "Shadows Exposed" EP and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the song "Beating Myself Down". Here is the story:

I started messing around on the piano with something that sounded like The Clash's London Calling song, and I took it from there. For me, the melody was clearly going to be kind of uplifting and motivational.

At the same time, a friend and I were working on a text with a depressing tone, these lyrics were almost too much to be taken seriously. The theme was dark but the lines were cool and catchy and I knew there was something to keep developing this song.

At first, we thought it would fit perfectly like a Papa Roach/ Korn type of song, but I ended up wanting to try it on a more upbeat "the world is beautiful & unicorns, etc" instrumental track that I had written around the same time. To my surprise it fit like a glove! It was exactly where it needed to go.

I'm not the depressed type of individual, but I have my dark moments like everybody else, and that's why having this kind of speech while not taking myself too seriously is now precisely what "Beating Myself Down" tries to convey.

Like I said, the lyrics were very dark and almost too much to consider putting on a track at first, however this was the perfect solution.

After recording the vocals and having finished the structure of the track, I decided to go all in with my upbeat vibe, and even add a brass section.
The goal was to make it so "over the top" that it's almost like there's a parade going on while I'm singing about how life sucks.

The way I ended up arranging the song was now perfectly in line with the feel that I wanted it to have.

The song has a swing beat, it starts off with a very light hearted piano chord progression and the instrumentation gradually gets fuller and more complex until the guitar solo kicks in, and I am moving forward going in a super dramatic sound with the long arpeggios and sweep picking to give it a epic sound.

A couple of weeks after having it mastered, and ready to release, I started getting tons of ideas for the music video to accompany the song.
The video would need to be funny, but still keep the meaning that I was trying to communicate in the track.

The idea was to have me play the role of many different aspects of myself. A bunch of me's talking to each other like I am having some kind of self inquiry moment or inner conversation.

It happens to all of us, and that was my way to put that in music and now images. It took a bit of a humorous turn but it still had a very profound meaning.

I'm really happy about what we did with this track and I really think it makes the perfect single for the EP.
Enjoy the song!

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