“A Memory Away” is one of the few songs on this site that – from inspiration to composition – changed hardly at all.  After writing “Faith ^[1],” I tested various variations on that same chord progression but was unable to find anything that worked.  It wasn’t until I heard “Not Enough” by OLP (Our Lady Peace), which uses the same chord progression as “Faith” and “A Memory Away ^[2],” that I realized the kind of style I wanted to try and achieve with MIDI.  I’d never heard an intelligent pop-rock instrumentation in MIDI, so this was a bit of a gamble.  I worked off the instrument mix OLP provided and put together what I guess is really a variation on “Faith” with a strong OLP presence.  Go figure.

As soon as I heard it, I knew this would be a perfect female character theme for the lead character of Defiance, one of the story premises discussed by the video game team I was working with at the time.  The protagonist of the story was a girl named Cara, who I see being comparable to the main character in “Underworld” (if you haven’t seen the movie, you should – it’s good).  Cara was a strong, action-oriented girl who ended up falling in love with a man she thought she was saving.  Thus the song is a mix of electric guitar and other rock instruments but with a mellow melody.

Technically speaking, the song may not be anything outstanding – but I’m pleased that my first attempt at producing a realistic alternative-type song using nothing but MIDI instruments worked out.  The mp3 version uses a mix of soundfonts and multiple VST effects to create a very nice, surprisingly realistic sound.  I think you’ll like it.