Linguistic Eclipse

Songwriting team name: Sophisticated Measures

Linguistic Eclipse
Melynn Sheet (lyricist)

I write for the masses of educated people across the world, who love good popular music (after all, most of us remember and still listen to the greats from the '60s, '70s and '80s). The demographic of popular music listeners has shifted to include every generation, not just teens. And the larger, better educated portion of those listeners despair over the fluff and immature-love songs that dominate the market right now, as they despair over lyrics that could have been penned by a third-grader. I find it ironic that even the teens are responding with enthusiasm to more mature, educated, age-universal lyrics. The teens on American Idol have taken on the classics from last century with depth and taste, only to be criticized for singing a "grown-up" song. My personal belief is that we have become a music-expert culture, from tweens to boomers, and many of us are dissatisfied with conveyor-belt songs and teen-only singers who aim to please the uninformed and musically inexperienced (usually at the behest of their label execs, rather than their own artistic sense). I write to raise the level of artistry in my craft, and sing the songs of modern America and the world, an increasingly global culture of college-educated, concerned, deep thinkers.

As a lyricist, I would say that my entire life--every song I've ever heard, every book I've ever read, every thought I've ever recorded--has influenced my lyrics. "Music Machine" explains the way I experience life, which is full of music, emotion, and drum rhythms that bring lyrics to my mind constantly. I feel that all life is a palette for new songs. While lyrics that are more from my personal experience in life can be a good deal more image-oriented, I also write for the commercial pop market, observing those around me and assuming the voice of people I see or imagine. This leads to lyrics of both a sophisticated and artistic nature, as well as lyrics that capture all the voices of today. Although my favorite songs are ones that I have to listen to, over and over, peeling them like an onion for nuance and deeper meaning, I also love the songs that speak to the people, using their own language and the beauty of modern dialogue. I believe great songs are a duet between sound and language, and both of these components work best together when they are telling the same story, skillfully pushing and challenging their medium to create new meanings--to better describe what we already know.

My composer has not yet fully implemented his musical voice in the demos we currently list here. But the music behind "Scars," "Music Machine," and "Look" is still hauntingly refreshing in its melody and scope. The complexity of the song tracks, musically, matches the complexity of the language used. Please note that we love to explore different genres, from classical choral Christian to soft rock, and we are hiring music studios and local singers to create our demos. The pop industry is our basic focus, but we also write contemporary Christian music, as you will see that we wrote "Look" for the 3rd Narnia movie, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Our song was not accepted, but we have been airing it on Internet radio stations to coincide with the release of the Narnia movie, and our feedback has been very positive. It has, in fact, over this year (2011) won a place as a favorite on Sundays for Women of Substance radio.

Our goals are to write advanced music--words and melodies and rhythms that challenge the greatest in the industry, and help them to push themselves to new heights, artistically. We still embrace, as listeners, the singers and musicians who give it their all on-stage and in the studio. However, we are aware that the commercial pop industry has gone more for cookie-cutter simplicity, focusing on "what sells already" in order to maximize their financial returns. We can certainly write for them, too. But as artists, we aim to bring a more sophisticated voice to the pop industry and speak directly to all ages of a "wise and wondering youth".

Coral Music Corp.
James J. Peterson, “JJ” (composer)

My composing history started just after I turned 16. I had been entertaining various ideas of what I wanted to do for a career when a huge need came over me to express myself. I started playing the piano, and after a few months of tinkering with it, I composed my first piece. I knew then, that I had found the medium of expression I had been longing for.

I spent the next 7 years participating in over 40 productions and competitions (18 of which were major venues) both in piano and voice, and I won a lot of awards. I traveled to New York for some dance instruction, and then to LA twice to perform at Disneyland. During all of this, I continued to compose many songs. One of them was featured on a major LDS composer’s album, and I received my first royalty check at age 19.

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