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Singled Out: John & Brittany's St. Valentine

09/04/2014
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Today John Faye from John & Brittany tells us about the song "St. Valentine", which is the new single from their upcoming EP "Stories To Be Told" (The title was suggested by Little Steven Van Zandt.) Here is the story:

I think one of the things we tried to do when writing "St. Valentine" was to look at the darker side of relationships and intimacy. Whether it's in a romantic context or not, when two people are close enough to know the other's vulnerabilities, it gives them a lot of power to hurt each other. We've observed this dynamic and a lot of people we know, but it also exists in our own friendship. I think we're so close that there's always a very deep sense of caring and consideration, but when we're mad at each other it's an all out war haha! We know how to push each other's buttons and we know each other's Achilles' heels very well. It's a fine line we walk as a musical duo, because we are aware that our yin-yang dynamic is what fuels our creative spark. The trick is not to let that cross the line into antagonism.

The process of writing the song was fairly typical for us and that it involved a lot of back-and-forth and exchange of ideas, and yes, some arguing. It was interesting because the bulk of it came together rather quickly. When I read the verse lyrics for the first time, they just kind of sung themselves and we were able to make them work really well over Brittany's main guitar figure. But then we hit a brick wall because we had no bridge. It was frustrating at first because we knew we had a really strong hook line with "you dig it when I suffer," although, when you think about it, it's kind of a heavy line to get people to sing along with. I think a lot more people relate to that than you might think, however. Eventually everything came together really well and I think ultimately the song is pretty honest mirror of our personal dynamic. In the studio we were in a huge fight and not really even talking to each other when I cut the vocals so I was really feeling those lyrics when I sang them haha. Obviously, we made up.. and lived to fight another day.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!

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