Potential

POTENTIAL An original Ghibli-style animated music video from Solo Hands Music — a heartfelt, true-life story about two men who turned an abandoned railway station in the Norwegian mountains into their dream home. It begins with a vision: one sees potential in what others have forgotten — a decaying mountain village station surrounded by beauty. The other, surprised but supportive, joins him in bringing that vision to life. Together they restore the old station and transform it into a home and creative sanctuary filled with love, art, and life. This is a story about seeing potential — in places, in dreams, and in each other, plus having the commitment to deliver on that vision. I learned of their wonderful story while on a ship exploring the Norwegian Coast last month: They met in the fashion industry, formed their own design studio and are passionate about knitting. They publish knitting patterns they design and also have designed patterned yarns that produce wonderful color patterns in knitted items. They also organize trips for knitters and were leading such a group on the same ship. They graciously let me sit in on their kickoff presentation during which they described their personal history. That, of course, featured how they came to be living what had been a train station. I was so struck by their story, that I wrote the song used in this music video as a gift for them. They were, thankfully, delighted with the song. Thus, the next step was to create a fun music video that built on the song to show the delightful description I heard in their talk plus capture their positive, high-energy approach to life. MUSIC INSIGHTS: This original song was written in an indie pop style specific attention paid to creating a musical hook. It follows genre-typical harmonic patterns. It is a fun, high energy song that speaks to the creativity and deep, positive relationship between these two men. The tempo and accompaniment are typical for this genre of pop song. While this is a fun song, it is also a tender song speaking to the commitment of two people to each other – and to a wonderfully positive life The song structure is a verse/chorus with a bridge. VIDEO INSIGHTS: I chose to use an AI animation platform to build a Ghibli style anime video as I felt that would bring in the element of fun. It also allowed me to transition between various age depiction of the two main characters. This included bring out their earlier years while also showing their obviously mature, committed relationship. Of course, one of the main advantages of using this style of anime is that it allowed me to capture some of the magic that really under pins this story. Finally, I was also able to use the anime style to include one of their main passions, knitting – which is the basis of their very successful fashion related business. Please do indicate if you like the music and/or music video – it would encourage me to release other new works. Also, please do subscribe to this channel so that you get announcements of all future releases. “Potential” was arranged and recorded using Ableton Live, with instrument voices from various sample libraries. The post processing and master mix was done with iZotope Ozone 9. At some time in the future, it will be released for streaming. Be sure to subscribe here and follow-on social media or signup for the weekly newsletter through the Solo Hands website (if you sign up for our newsletter, you will also receive our free eBook, Musical Notes – Composing & Arranging): http://www.solohands.com Facebook: @SoloHandsMusic Instagram: @SoloHandsMusic