Ford's Summer Mix, Vol. III

The final EP in my Summer Trilogy. I found myself leaning into a darker sound and image, inspired by a lot of the darkwave and industrial artists I had been listening to in the past year. This had to be big, badass, and a worthy finale. This was 6 months in the making... way more than the previous mixes!

These songs really tell stories, and they lean into the theatricality I've been searching for throughout my musicmaking life. See the full story below.

2025, Saturn Ford

As always, 80s media has the biggest impact on my artistry. However, this time, I found a lot of inspiration in films rather than albums. I've been in my movie-watching era, especially horror and sci-fi classics from the 80s. Here's a few movies that shaped the aesthetics of SM3:

These movies unlocked something in me: a need to be unadulterated, in fear that I'll end up like these characters. Scarred from their actions. Traumatized from a false state of living. In danger due to their ignorance, or in some cases, their curiosity. If I was going to go out, it had to be my way.

Thus, these songs feel much more reflective of my viewpoint of life at the time of writing. My confidence was so boosted at the beginning of summer, creating Red Line. I was bored at work and scared I'd settle for a 9-5, inspiring Mister Mundane. I was obsessing over the idea of reuniting with my partner, leading to Burn the Bridge. The flare and drama of these songs came out thanks to the courage these films gave me.

Producing these songs was not easy. I made my previous mixes in mere weeks. This took me months. Terminator had 12 different demos before it became the song you hear now. Red Line didn't even exist before July. In order to up the ante, I used new sounds beyond my current sample library. I tend to work using samples from the Yamaha DX7, Juno-60, OB-Xd, and my favorite, the Linndrum. However, these were not enough to fulfill the sound I was searching. I looked through goth sound samples, dance samples, R&B samples, cumbia samples. There are a lot of folders on my desktop now.

Writing was also a different process. Mister Mundane came to me in full one day at work. I wrote Burn the Bridge three days before I had to record it. What a variety of creation. I am proud of my songwriting here, though. I like how I made strange cadences to make my rhymes fit (see: My cheddar is too sharp for your BLT). Plus, the writing here feels fully realized, and I'm happy I gave myself time to finish songs in full.