Singled Out: Rhymes ft. Summer Dennis' Storm

05-28-2019

Music duo Rhymes ft. Summer Dennis tell us about their latest single "Storm", which comes from the album "Faith and Proof". Here is the story from Summer and Bill:

Summer: This song has a lot of meaning for me... I would describe most of my romantic relationships AND my music relationships as tumultuous to say the least. So, when I first heard this song, I immediately identified with it. This song was in a file folder that Bill shared with me that included a bunch of guitar solos and some lyrics. At this time I had never heard any of Bill's ideas. Its funny, I was in the band for awhile and he mentioned here and there that he had song ideas but by this time since he never shared them, I figured they didn't exist. So I open the folder and I listen to the ideas. They're all singable but for some reason "Storm" just resonated with me. At the time I was in a relationship that was one-sided. I was paying all the bills, taking myself out to eat, working 3 jobs... I was really uncomfortable and hearing the chorus (this changes everything...), I did find myself fantasizing about a change.

I decided to see if I could add a few things to the song. Bill scheduled a meeting with me outside of practice. When I came downstairs to his basement, he had poured us drinks and had out a notebook and a pen. I was like... where's your guitar? And in true Bill Moore form he was like... lets have a conversation. I'm like *roll eyes... stop being weird... ok ill drink tho*. So after about an hour long conversation about the song meaning, my writing process, and a long line of questioning intended to assist him with getting comfortable enough to let this crazy girl touch his song baby (the songs are all his children), he finally got out his guitar and we tried it.

I loved Storm from the first time we practiced it together. It reminded me of Sade who is one of my idols. It was also smoother and didn't hit so hard. Bill's songs are all in your face which is what makes them amazing... but I'm a West Indian girl and I always do like a nice beach groove.

That bad relationship ended, and then Bill and I continued to polish our music. I initially thought I lost something when the bad relationship ended, but now I have a great partnership with Bill making my own music and I realized that music is what I really needed. So for me, being in Rhymes and releasing this project is my "after the Storm."

Bill: Storm began in the middle of a beautiful April day a year or so back. That time of year is marked by Nature's renewal and it made me think about how relationships don't usually get renewals, they start and end and new ones start and so on.. Anyway, enjoying the day and thinking about relationships and Nature, led to the idea that there is an metaphor connection. The song is about a relationship but presented in the way that Nature moves through our universe. The song actually begins at the end of the relationship and describing how after Nature presents a disaster ("After the Storm..") everything is prepared to begin again and we can see the beauty of life and the potential for love after the storm. "The air was so clean, the sky so blue, it was like a dream...the seas so calm, the breeze so warm but the life I knew was gone with the storm". The lines say that the woman can see that life still has great potential for her and that she hasn't been "killed" the emotional storm. The song weaves through her getting her footing and being able to start again herself, just like Nature. The song is about survival, hope and the redeeming possibilities of love. These messages resonate with all of us who've ever loved and lost and re-built. As well, we knew that Summer would be able to bring the emotional quality of her voice and presentation to it and make it a success. We tried to get a kind of Caribbean feel to the music without actually using traditional instrumentation from those genres. True Story: The day we had scheduled the video production in Myrtle Beach, SC a REAL Hurricane hit the town and it had to be evacuated. That storm caused a huge production delay and a scramble to get to Puerto Rico, where it was still tropical enough, to do the filming.

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