"Zoom In (There's Life Here)" ("I've Been Thinking..." THOUGHT PROCESS SERIES 2/12)

“I've Been Thinking...” behind the songs “THOUGHT PROCESS SERIES”

My latest full length album, “I've Been Thinking...” released on the Savannah based label DopeSandwich Records and Tapes May 3^rd is a collection of concepts and narratives that I've written over the last few years featuring instrumental contributions from coast to coast and outside of the country as well. Looking over the collection I'd opine that it is some of my finest work to date (one would hope). What have you been thinking? Over 12 days I'll be releasing a behind-the-music sort of blurb for each track! If there are any questions or comments regarding the songs please submit them and I'll do my best to answer and fulfill them! I hope this series is of interest and that the music does something for you!

Track 2: “Zoom In (There's Life Here)”

     Welcome back to the "Thought Process Series", the breakdown of “I've Been Thinking...”, the second song on the album (which became the first single when the album was announced on my birthday on March 26^th) ! “Zoom In (There's Life Here)” is produced by the Dope Sandwich label forefather/ rapper/producer mastermind, Savannah's own Dope Knife. Most of the reason this album was prompted to life or at least given a sense of urgency was due to Knife's invitation to me to be involved with the new direction Dope Sandwich was taking which was that of an eclectic label/collective. I told him that I had an album idea kicking around that was asking for an excuse to come out while I worked on my other project Rapologues and that I could likely record it in the interim of working on that other LP, so he encouraged me to get to work! Knife sent me a package of beats and this one stood out to me as a great canvas for a song I had written about upstate towns and when I worked the lyrics over the instrumental, the vibe just really fit to me, the simplicity of it gave way for me to experiment with different deliveries that were more expressive and it felt the perfect amount of emotive/maudlin.

Why Upstate NY?

8 months after resigning from my
student status at SUNY OSWEGO
I was asked to be part of the "Living Writers Series"
which was a Fall-only course that studied
the work of currently active professionals
and then had them come in and perform and lecture.
So within a year of dropping out of school to
pursue performing, that very same school
not only paid me to return to talk about
my endeavors, but also taught my lyrics in a
college course!  Surreal!!

     My Mom is a SUNY Oswego alumni and for 27 years ever since I was 6 months old, at least every memorial day we would drive 5+ hours from Long Island to the more rural and at times oddly industrial Upstate NY to meet her college friends and go camping. Due to this I have a huge affinity for long drives, open spaces, barns and massive amounts of acreage and have an odd nostalgia found in small towns and diners.  When it came time in fall of 2010 to for me to get my Bachelors, I too ended up at Oswego and only stayed there for a year due to my lack of passion for the way things were run (or tried to run me, as dramatic as that seems) and my all-consuming passion to make and share poetry and art.  While I had a lot of fun there with friends (Check out my obscene and ridiculous college web series "The Bruce and Kenny Show" ) I also had a really difficult time assimilating to the academia and schedule which was adverse to my mode of being, the bitter cold environment being on Lake Ontario and subjected to “the lake effect”. There were a lot of stark images and experiences there in that environment, the depressing socioeconomic and barometric state of affairs contrasted with the charm of the small businesses, the slower and simpler lifestyle, the pictureseque “world's second best sunset” over the lake (though I always questioned how you could really establish that, it was undeniably the most astonishing sunset I had ever seen.) 

Performing in 2011 at the Library cafe
open mic on campus, one of the best
things and communal experiences
about my time as a campus resident!

      I've long had the idea to write a song about these negative and positive experiences and incorporate the clusters of lyrics and images as I toured around and went camping and to school. The song actually took a couple of years to come together between picking it up and contributing lines, images and ideas to the representation over  to it. I remember making a significant contribution to the lyrics in my favorite cafe, “The Coffee Connection” in Oswego while on tour March 2014 and then finally finishing the song one morning when I was couch surfing at a friend Danielle's house in Albany, NY for my first time while on tour in June 2014 (Read Day One and Day 2 of my Albany trip here). I wanted the song to be a snapshot of a setting that described specific experiences as well as represented similar small towns and their issues, reflecting my personal feelings but also larger issues. While much of this song has sort of a negative tone, I hope the third verse and sort of bridge/fourth verse clarify a bit of the wider range of my deep feelings for these types of places!

The Music Video

Zoom In was one of the earlier songs I had tracked for the project.  My cinematographer friend whom I met during my residence in Oswego, Tyler Edic (who still lives in Oswego) was enthusiastic and generous enough to offer to work with me on a video when I sent him on of the early mixes of the songs.  You can head to his page to read his account BY CLICKING HERE.  He and I conferred over a few weeks and I told him I essentially wanted the video to be a sort of character sketch/documentary of the area, so based on our notes and the lyrics in the song he came up with a shot list and over the course of a few runs, he got all his shot and edited them with both imaginative kaleidoscopic effects and gritty and raw presentation! I got chills the first time I watched the video because of how well it lines up with the lyrics and the imagery presented, which is a compliment to the both of us, I suppose!

Here's the video on the Dope Sandwich Youtube Page...Enjoy/like/subscribe and share please!

Thank you for reading, I hope you draw inspiration from all of your journeys and the folks you meet there! If you can't adapt to a place, at least admire it or analyze the experience in some way!
Speaking of travel....come back tomorrow for the 3rd track on the album "Travel Baggage (Carry On)"
Since early, yours,
-Bruce "AllOne" Pandolfo

Travel to the melancholy and mesmerizing upstate NY with me at www.allonevoice.bandcamp.com/track/zoom-in-theres-life-here