The SAC Challenge opened with Matt Dusk’s pitch request.  I have to confess that it’s outside the style of writing I’ve been cultivating for the past year and therefore a bit out of my comfort zone.  I have listened to the reference tracks he offered and I began to play around with a title idea, with great input from some other songwriters participating in the challenge.

“Beautiful Freeze” is full of possibilities but if I’m going to develop it, I need to find a musical angle for it.  I’ve got the seed of an idea but not quite ready to record and share it yet.  I usually write with guitar, so working with piano puts me in a different zone, both musically and technically (i.e., not a strength).  However, I like the “icy” quality of a simple piano track and I’m playing with the chord progression

C … Csus4/F …  Am7 … G

C … Csus4/F … Gsus4 … C

And I’m going down tempo rather than up.  I’m working with the a phrase “Like the frost in the trees/it’s a beautiful freeze”. The image and phrasing needs to be stronger but I have to start somewhere.

I’m going to sit with it as the challenge continues and see where it might go.  I’m started to explore some collaborations with it too but that’s a challenge too when working online.  I hope to be able to continue to work on that as well.