Writing lyrics only happened when I was forced to. I toyed with combining vocal melodies with my instrumentals, but I never put words to anything. I assumed it wasn't going to be that hard.
But it was actually like entering a whole new dimension of creativity. I usually have so much to say. But I was at a loss for words. I struggled to find the perfect combination: brevity, flow, and subject matter.
The pressure to write lyrics to all of these Super 8 instrumentals in such a short amount of time was, looking back, the best situation to put myself in. I was forced to put most words that came to my head down on paper, to just let the writing really happen. I noticed that I cared more about how the words sounded than anything. The musical element changed how I normally think while writing plain poetry.
Later I played around with the idea of not rhyming at all. Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke practically says whatever he wants in his music and manipulates his voice to fit with the song -- no matter what.
I realized that writing lyric-heavy music is easier to me. Spoken-word-esque songs like both interlude tracks on To Pimp A Butterfly (For Free? & For Sale?) are what come easily to me. I find rhymes out of nowhere and make them the primary focus of the song, set to background music that's less important to me.
As with every creative sub-field I interest myself in, I will find a way to twist it, stretch it, and make it my own. Every good artist is original with their takes on form: Thom Yorke with his vivid, jittery, image-driven vocals differs vastly from Sun Kil Moon's sentences that drone over his guitar strum.
As of right now, there are no lyrics that scream Mitchell Watson. I think I'm still finding my way through the maze of lyricism, creating a mental map of all its inner-workings. This process takes a long while, but the only way to build such a strong sense of self is to experiment.
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