Inner Glow by Needs

After my more experimental "Over The Sea" ep which was a bit more Jazzfunk and Fusion driven, I felt a strong "Need" to go back to the roots of what our label was all about in the first place. Around the time of this production I felt truly inspired by new recordings from my heroes such as Ron Trent and Kerri Chandler who put out some exciting and fresh new music out into to the world.
Dark World on the a-side is one of the occasions where I wrote lyrics and also decided to sing them. Even though I am definitely not a serious or well trained singer - sometimes the inner urge to make an artistic statement makes one forget any possible limitations. Personally I like to take this kind of risk even if it comes at the cost of embarrassing myself a little bit...
The arrangement is divided into two different sections: The first half of the song is defined by a very moody and "modal" chord progression that creates a lot of inner tension. A massive beat is supported by a bass line that we would describe as "magnetic" back then. The real interesting element is a cascading portamento driven melody that sounds both heavenly and deeply melancholic at the same time. Then follows a typical verse-chorus structure.
In the second half of the tune a totally new chord progression is introduced and the vibe is resolved into a more euphoric episode, while the exact same melody is continuing to play in this more gospel oriented setting!
The b-side with its two mixes of Inner Glow is a much simpler affair. Inner Glow features a catchy chord progression over the same beat as in Dark World and contains a very classic sounding bass line that is inviting everyone to really move with great joy. Still the whole vibe is a bit ambiguous by combining playful Glockenspiel kind of melodies, disco like vocal snippets on the one hand with a very otherworldly sound design and textures that induce some darker colours on the other hand.
Dark World and Inner Glow still give me joy until this day, mainly because of its simple yet detailed character

composer, guitarist,
producer