I made this video for my song Die Alone (streaming link here: https://songwhip.com/max-oakland/die-...) by collaging my drawings and paintings into a video on my computer. The story follows an alien who becomes a ghost and wanders the earth, far away from any home he’s ever known. I really like how it turned out!

I wrote Die Alone sitting on the floor of my room. It was really different from my other songs at the time, but it stuck with me. At first I recorded it with GarageBand on my computer with loud vocals and noisy guitars. After several versions with different musicians, I recorded this one at Orangutan Studios in Missoula Montana. All the way across the country. Never realized travel would seem so impossible

The result is energetic and dark. It has a heavy beat and some really cool vocals. I especially love the bridge where it gets really quiet and echoey and then builds to the most intense moment of the song

I recorded this song at a really hard time when I had to go to voice therapy because I had hurt my vocal cords and I was just recovering after a year wondering if I’d ever be able to sing again. I still hadn’t fully recovered during the recording process, but the result is cool because my vocals are a lot breathier than usual. My philosophy is: turn that mud into gold if at all possible

Die Alone. It’s about knowing that something or someone beautiful is gone, hoping they might come back someday, but not waiting around because you also have a life to live. It’s a dark song. Not exactly happy, but not unhappy either. Just fresh and raw from the pain and disappointment. The title comes from the phrase “You don’t die alone on the road”, which came from nowhere but really fits the overall energy, about moving forward despite all the uncertainty

Listening to it, following me on Spotify and other social media, and sharing it will help me make this hard-won song as successful as possible. Thanks for your support, it’s always helped me keep motivated

Lyrics:

Oh I know it’s gone forever, but I can’t help but wonder

Can’t help but wondering

Filth dissolved in rain, like the clouds crashed and we're OK

You don't die alone on the road. Too many monsters to take your soul

You don't die alone on the road. Just gonna sell everything you know

Oh I know it’s gone forever, but I can’t help but wonder

Can’t help the wondering

Salts like cyanide washing away in the tide

Keep this one in my pocket to remind me of younger days

when the smoke we saw was dragons evolving in their caves

into you and your little sister all alone now in the snow

have we become the monsters when we drive away all alone?

You don't die alone on the road

If you’ve made it all the way down here, you know what you’re doing. Comment “colgogni pie" and I will give you a secret special link