Komie – When I Close My Eyes
ARTIST NAME: Komie + Idrise
SONG TITLE: When I Close My Eyes (I Still Can See You)
ALBUM TITLE: Kaleidoscope
RELEASE DATE: Friday, July 26th
GENRE: Pop/Pop Rock/Alternative
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Award-winning guitarist and composer Komie has already enjoyed a successful career creating music for hundreds of hit shows including Ozzy Osbourne’s World Detour, The Voice, NASCAR, Dateline, Late Show With Stephen Colbert and The Amazing Race.
His music has been featured in advertising campaigns for Diane Von Furstenberg, Bailey’s Irish Creme, Six Flags and Coca-Cola (amongst others) and has won several Emmy Awards for best music, 3 BMI TV Music Awards and a Clio nod along the way. But despite all of these accomplishments, Komie desired something more: to produce projects made purely for the art of it. No boundaries except one — they had to express the deepest part of his artistry at the highest level possible.
Komie’s first single of 2019, Aurora Dawning (Featuring Idrise) is a sweeping, melodic and inspiring pop-rock song featuring the talented up-and-coming vocalist, Idrise. The single follows Komie’s well-received instrumental album, Afterglow.
Aurora Dawning draws inspiration from Afterglow, but the single’s vocal component sets it apart from the latter. The song pays homage to the Aurora Borealis, the magical celestial events that famously occur near the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
Komie, in a characteristically thoughtful and metaphysically inspired tone, poetically conveys the interplay between star-crossed lovers amidst an emotively dramatic backdrop of stellar guitar playing…
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Tell us about your future music projects.
I’m currently recording new songs for the upcoming album, Kaleidoscope, which gets its name from the diverse styles and sounds that will share the album. The plan is to release a single every month or two, then release the full album early next year.
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Share your press release and reviews with us.
Jammerzine
Bionic Buzz
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Tell us if you will change the style of your music to get signed. Nope; unless of course, they throw in a Maserati…
No, not even then – Seriously.
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Elaborate on this song.
The brand new single, When I Close My Eyes (I Still Can See You) is a driving, haunting pop-rock song featuring the passionate, powerful vocals of Idrise coupled with the innovative guitar textures of Komie. The song is the first of Komie’s material to feature lyrics co-written by Ira Besserman and Komie.
After the love of his life leaves him, the song’s rejected romantic, in a fit of epic masochism, he visits Paris and retraces the steps he had once taken with his beguiling former lover. Haunted, he sees her everywhere he looks…but in a blink she’s gone. His heartache is only intensified by the City Of Love and the gorgeous sights seen once again, but this time without her. Back home and emotionally drained, he finds what he least expected…
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Tell us if you have a guideline or standard set for your music production.
I’ve been producing professional-grade music for TV and film for years now, so I definitely have a process for making sure the production is as good as it can be. A big thing for me is stepping away from the song/mix for a bit, then coming back with fresh ears and seeing how things feel. I can usually tell right away what needs improving and what sounds great. So it’s kind of a back and forth between being the songwriter/producer/mixer and a listener.
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Tell us your preparation for a live performance and how you make sure the quality of sound is high.
It all comes down to playing with great musicians, practice and rehearse your ass off, and hiring a good monitor and house mixer, that’s the key.
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Discuss how to live healthily.
Great question! For me, it comes down to healthy eating (lots of veggies), exercise (I play basketball and lift weights at least three times a week), and definitely writing music. When I’m creating in my studio I feel a great flow of energy, kinda like a life force that feels healthy and vibrant, it’s really therapeutic for me.
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Tell us if you are in control of your performance or you are still learning.
I’m always learning! I think that’s the key to always growing as a musician. Yes, I’m in control of my performance but that doesn’t mean I’m there. I don’t ever want to be “there”, that’s no fun. It’s a continual journey of self-exploration and self-improvement; musical skills, production skills, mixing skills, business and promotion, content creation, video, art. To be an indie artist these days you really need them all, or at least have an understanding of the concepts to effectively collaborate with people.
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Tell us that precious moment you chose music as a career.
I was a junior in high school and couldn’t put the guitar down, it was nuts. My parents wanted me to go to college and become a doctor, lawyer blah blah. I looked them in the eye and told them the only way I’m going to college was if I could major in music. They went along with it thank God…
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Tell us the greatest feedback you have ever received on a song of yours.
Well, it was more for an album, Afterglow got some amazing reviews. A couple of my favourite quotes from the reviews:
“Afterglow is truly a beautiful album…the sheer inspiration and colourful feelings of hope that define this album are undeniably striking and mesmerizing…This album is an artistic triumph.”
-The Prog Mind
“Afterglow is filled with incredibly tasteful playing and great songs,” and “there are so many great moments that each time I listen, I hear more of them… this is how it’s DONE.”
–Progressive Music Planet
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Tell us your side interest apart from music.
Lately I don’t have time for much else; producing an album is intense and immersive! Hmm, sleep maybe? Definitely food…Time with my fiancée, that’s an important one.
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Tell us the artists that influenced you.
OMG! Where do I start?
Jimi, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Johnson, The Eagles, Yes, John Mayer, early Train, Switchfoot, Coldplay…That’s just the tip of the iceberg…
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Tell us if you prefer singing as a solo artist to collaborating with others.
Well, I sing backgrounds but not really lead vocal. I write and produce the songs, play all the instruments except drums, and sing backgrounds. So I always collaborate with a lead singer.
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Tell us the full details of this song.
I wrote, arranged, produced, mixed the track and played all the instruments. Idrise sang lead and background vocals, Perrin York and I sang background vocals as well.
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Tell us the organization you will set up to fight a cause and state your reason for fighting the cause.
I love animals, so it would probably be something to protect them.
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Describe your mood while performing.
It varies! We’re humans not machines, sometimes you’re not even in the mood to play but the show must go on, right? Once the music starts, however, everything melts away and you just get into the music, live in the moment.
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Tell us the mistakes to avoid in the music business.
I would need twenty pages to do that. I would say do your research and take your career in your own hands, don’t rely too much on others. Knowledge is power for sure.
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Tell us your opinion on smoking, health is wealth but people still smoke.
It’s bad and smells terrible, I hate it.
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State your artist’s name and elaborate on it.
Komie. It’s my last name.
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State the title of the song and the meaning.
When I Close My Eyes (I Still Can See You): he keeps seeing his former lover all over Paris, yet she’s not really there, he’s imagining it. Her lovely memory is haunting him every time he closes his eyes.
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State the title of the album and the reason for choosing the title.
Well, it’s a working title, not finalized, but it’s Kaleidoscope. I chose this title because the songs on it are going to be very diverse in sound and style, lots of different colours on the album, so I thought this title fits perfectly
