Illuminate (2020 Version)

Robert James

Another song from my 2013 RPM Challenge album. I always like this one, but I’m not sure I did it justice this time. There is a lot of really sloppy guitar playing, even if the Klon KTR overdrive pedal sounds EPIC. Sorry, gear nerd.

This is pretty much as prog rock as my feeble skills are capable of. There is a lot going on in this mix. Can you hear the piano doing wacky panning tricks during the choruses? Hell, can you hear the piano at all? There’s a buried super fuzzy guitar part, there’s two vocal tracks that are almost all reverb and delay. Most important: Guitarmonies!

Yeah, I might have bit off more than I can chew here, but I do like the song. Even if the choruses are really hard to sing in time.

I looked up my notes from 2013 and all it says about the lyrics is that it’s a song about a sunrise. I’ll buy that.

The guitars are all Gibson ES-335. The rhythm parts used a Fender Bassbreaker 15 as their amp. The leads used both the Fender and a Vocx AC15. Also, KLON!

Verse 1
I look out
It looks back
I look in
It looks through

Verse 2
Look around
Look behind
Look outside yourself
Look inside

Chorus
See it shine
See it climb
See it radiate
see it rise
See it shine
All the time
See it illuminate
It is mine

Break
Do you see?