Behind The Tracks: A LIGHT WITHIN - Count With Your Eyes (Single) (2023)

Josh: "Consciously cellular throughout, yet organically wired to this place"

Nick: "Count With Your Eyes", or CWYE as it is always abbreviated on our rehearsal whiteboard, was actually the last song we wrote as a five piece band; it marks a change, an adaptation, as we did once more as a band with our instrumentation, as well as representing the ever-changing need to adapt on and off stage in the music industry; this is especially true now more than ever for every artist and musician alike.

The song began at the end of a practice with a simple drum lick and bass riff, voiced with delay and distortion, that quickly took on a life of its own. Within ten minutes of some guitar-questing and lyrical notes taken, we had a beginning, a middle, and a pretty clear direction for an end, and before we knew it, we had a whole song and we were already counting with our eyes.

Kyle: At the time of writing this song, the band seemed to be suffering from some form of burnout. Members were grumpy, progress was slow, and the amount of effort to fulfill what was my vision for the band seemed far out of reach, and was becoming exhausting. I really started to question myself if being in the band was worth my time which really came out in the lyrics.

The song really became a description of the inner struggles I had on quitting or continuing to push through. I was so unsatisfied with what the band was, but due to friendships with the other members, I just couldn't say goodbye as we were too invested. Oddly enough, and thankfully, the Covid pandemic hit. Bands and venues shut down in mass and ALW was really forced into the breath of fresh air it desperately needed. Our friends came back refreshed and ready to put out some new content for us and for our dedicated fanbase.

Jeff: We wanted to try something different with this song... a drum intro, check. A chord progression that stayed the same, check. The only true variations of the progression are the intensity of the tremolo picking or playing full-on chords. This became more apparent when we switched to a 4 piece, we were really trying to have this song hit hard and become expansive before dropping to almost nothing in the breakdown. A little moment of reflection before sending the listener back into the stratosphere. It's been fun watching this song and our sound evolve.