Song Breakdown: Present Company (Patreon)

Hello Humans,

This month's music lesson is a short but sweet re-visit into one of my much older tracks—Present Company.

Some of you who've been here a while might remember it from way back when it was first released in 2012 alongside the beautiful slow-mo, boxing-match music video where I get punched in the face for real. Ouch.

I thought it would be fun to revisit the song to give you a proper musical breakdown: chords, structure, melody.

🎵 THE STORYPresent Company was the first "solo" song I ever published, being at a time where Birdeatsbaby was in a state of transition and I had an backload of songs I was desperate to get out.

It was a raw and vulnerable place I was writing from, and I felt this song very deeply, I still do, even on the rare occasions I play it live.

It ties into many emotional things for me - loss of love, broken faith and an absence of hope. I'm still not sure where it came from, I feel like it sort of wrote itself, one of those songs that just came out all at once and I couldn't wait to record it.

I feel like it was a level up in song-writing after Feast of Hammers and a step towards The Bullet Within. What do you think?

(Scene from the music video)

🎹 THE THEORY

In the tutorial, I’ll walk you through the main chord sequences and how just by changing a few notes here and there everything becomes more tense, sad and longing.

We’ll also talk about structure: how the verses contrast with the chorus, and how the middle 8 acts as a bit of relief but still ties in. I’ll play sections slowly so you can follow along, whether you’re a beginner or more advanced.

The piano it was originally recorded on was horribly out of tune (like a whole semi-tone low) and looking back I'm annoyed I didn't record it on something better but hey-ho, it was a learning experience!

🎥 THE MUSIC VIDEOIt’s been over a decade since this came out, and I still adore this video. You can watch it again here – on YouTube, and listen to the song in all it's glorious layers.

I hope you enjoy the lesson. I'll be back soon with a new HVIRESS song... and some Crimson Veil pianos, oh yeah.

Love and left hooks,Mishkin x