The Dress - Dark Matter Symmetry

The Dress

Music & Lyrics: Leo Kapfer

Deep inside her closet room
Red silk with a touch of perfume
A hint of romance and finesse
There is this one specific dress

Sewed and tailered by her mom
Worn once at the Senior prom
The most valuable thing she possessed
Was her one and only favourite dress

Nothing stayed
As heretofore,
The dress did not fit anymore

Refrain:
Once when the dress will fit again
She will leave behind her chains
It will all be fine
When the dress will look perfect again
All fights and struggles she’d complained
Will get lost in the vortex of time

Once innocent and juvenile
Now divorced, two kids and single for a while
No longer fits the dress, nor does her life
Way too much heartache, sorrow and strife

Now the dress pinches and it needs a maintain
If the dress would fit, her life would regain
All her worries that she always complained
Would be blown away if it would fit again

Nothing stayed
As heretofore,
The dress did not fit anymore

Refrain:
Once when the dress will fit again
She will leave behind her chains
It will all be fine
When the dress will look perfect again
All fights and struggles she’d complained

The fabric of time
Is a lining divine
She has lost the thread
She got lost instead

A delicate lace
An elastic brace
Silk or mohair
It is hers to take care
Not about – to barely survive
She is in charge of her life

Refrain:
Once when the dress will fit again
She will leave behind her chains
It will all be fine
When the dress will look perfect again
All fights and struggles she’d complained
Will get lost in the vortex of time

The Dress - production blog

18.10.2022

Most of the sounds of this power ballad come from the computer, real are only vocals, guitar and bass. The piano was at least recorded live, you can hear the Grandeur sound from the Native Instruments Komplete library.

Tom uses two different basses in this song, a fretless and his favorite Ibanez axe. I play the Musicman JP6 here, as I usually do, and play directly into the console via reamping. All guitar sounds & effects come from Line6 Helix.

I would especially like to highlight the drums of Superior Drummer 3, here the George Massenburg Pearl Set is in use, and the gospel choir sounds of EastWest Voices of Soul. The rain and chirping sounds are copyright free sounds from an opensource media database.

Also, I'm always excited about SonicProjects' Oberheim Emulator OP-X PRO-II, which was used on all the lead synths and pads. For the strings I used the EastWest Hollywood Strings. All other sounds come from the Kontakt Library.

Author: Leo Kapfer

The Dress - the idea

The piano part of the song existed for a long time already, but the style didn't really fit the heavier music of Dark Matter Symmetry. The idea for the lyrics of the song came about when my wife Caro jokingly said that if her favorite black dress will fit her again, then her life will be alright again. So the idea for a song about a dress as a metaphor for changes in life was born.

The Dress - the realization

Originally a fretless bass (Joe Striebel Custom Made) was intended for the entire song, but the style of the song has evolved away from a piano ballad to a power ballad during production. Because of that, a fretted bass (Ibanez Soundgear 1500) is used in the chorus. The interlude part, in the style of "Bohemian Rapsody", should be polyphonic with opposing voices and orchestral in effect.

Challenges

While developing the verses, two different ideas emerged, which we then both implemented. In the chorus I had actually wished for an ascending vocal line, however, Alex, our singer, was hardly available at this time. So we had to record the polyphonic choirs in the interlude part without a lead singer.