‘Hercules’ is the the soundtrack to the inner turmoil an artist faces when they come up against the hardships around navigating a mysterious industry. It’s a sparkly, deceptively bright sounding synth pop track that explores the frustation of rejection in a music career, as well as trying to find contentedness in the joy of music as a craft. The line ‘even the sky looks kind of dark, because we only see what stands apart’ speaks to the fact that should our eyes be able to see every star in the night sky, our world would be lit up like daytime. In the same way, so many people strive to make their dreams in music come alive, but we only see the most successful of them shine brightly, this isn’t to say that the other stars don’t exist or don’t have value, they simply aren’t within our eye’s comprehension.
‘Hercules’ is a call for musicians to find joy in their art-making, even when the stars don’t align, and was a fantastic project to work on after the success of Pipe Dream with Skyepaint.
LYRICS
I’ve got red lights more than green
And the snake bites are turning me
Into graphite, I’m wondering
Why I’m bothering
And I see you, you’re so at ease
You’re believing you’re Hercules
But its fading, you’re just like me
Another will to please
We’re frustrated
It’s complicated
We’re just waiting
Maybe it’s not our name in stars
Baby we’ve got words and guitars
Even the sky looks kinda dark
Cuz we only see what stands apart
I’m in transit, engines dry
And no wonder, I don’t leave the high-
way the wind blows sure to imply
that it’s all blue skies
We’re frustrated
It’s complicated
We’re just waiting
Maybe it’s not our name in stars
Baby we’ve got words and guitars
Even the sky looks kinda dark
Cuz we only see what stands apart
Maybe this worlds just not for me
When I’m alone it’s hard to see
Others who feel the same as me
People who feel like nobody
Maybe this worlds just not for me
When I’m alone it’s hard to see
Others who feel the same as me
But we only see, we only see
Maybe it’s not our name in stars
Baby we’ve got words and guitars
Even the sky looks kinda dark
Cuz we only see what stands apart
“Even with Ella/Bares peeling back the layers with her introspective lyrics, it’s the production that catches your ears; the glittery keyboards and breezy feel flowing like a spool of coloured ribbons from the track” – Dave Ruby Howe
“With a massive and solid back catalogue backing her up, this song shines rather strong verses her previous work, the pop goodness here is next level” – It’s All Indie
“Channelling a warm and breezy aesthetic from start to finish, ‘Hercules’ makes for a wonderfully woozy listen” – YMX
CREDITS
Songwriting and Vocals by Ella Sterland
Electric Guitar by Renee Stein
Produced and mixed by Amos Wellings – Skyepaint
Mastered by Ryley – X Amount Records
Artwork by Monique Rojas
I wrote Hercules in 2018 when I was playing around with some different sound apps on my phone, and I came across the app ‘TonePad’ which was where that first arpeggiator came from. I sat in the park that I would drive past every day after work, and I wrote down what became the verses and choruses. The initial development of Hercules came quickly, but it took 6 or 7 more poorly constructed demos before I finally asked Amos for some help. I was so happy to be able to finally put this song together after it had been rattling around my brain for so many years
Baresmusicau 