If I Could Drink Enough

after our first song together i wanted to keep making music with her

she came back with a song it was also her graduation project

we already knew how we worked together i wanted to take this one all the way

the first release put my name first this time we put hers first

it began with her writing her school approved the shared billing

she sent a video of an early performance that was enough to get me started

i set the tempo and laid out the chords then built around her melody and words

we talked about the song and about life there was time to do it properly

her youth was happening right then mine was something i could look back on

i wanted the words closer to that moment without losing what she had written

so my memories found their way in an ipod and a campus quad and a curb

i grew up skating and used mp3 players before streaming

ipods were everywhere when i was in high school in california

i wasn’t trying to make a period piece those details were just part of my life

she doesn’t skate i brought that part of the picture

she bought a yellow jbl secondhand

we brought highballs as props

yellow and grapefruit red on the cans the same colors turned up on her nikes

that part wasn’t planned it made the whole picture feel connected

i took the opening toward post-punk and the second half toward pop-punk

i moved beyond the original chord loop but kept the arrangement playable live

same guitar and amp same bass and drums

i changed the space around them and how they sat together

two different feelings it still had to sound like one song

between those halves i slipped in a skateboard sound

she heard a tape recorder i heard a skateboard

then the next verse lands on the half-pipe

“background noise” got actual noise the drinking line got a can opening

she liked those little sound details i made them feel at home in the mix

i was back in my early 2000s rock world and put a lot of small details on guitar

i worked the mix until it felt right then sent it to ilpo for mastering

he liked the song too that meant a lot

while he worked we went out for photos latency had photographed my debut too

hair and makeup came first including a brief debate about curls

she went with smoky makeup then we went looking for curbs and stairs

rusty stairs and quiet streets in seoul places that felt like american suburbs

i like working things out on location that day reminded me to share the plan

i had to leave for another appointment they finished at the skatepark

i used to skate there years earlier those photos became the cover and visuals

with the master and artwork ready i sent everything to the distributor

then we had a listening party in my studio

i called the playlist “skatepark after rain”

our song sat beside new pop-punk and emo and the rock records i was playing then

seeing people enjoy it in the same room was better than another playback alone

she closed her school show with it backed by a band of her peers

isaac played bass on the record and played at the show too

the guitarist i’d met through “waves” was there with them

that school project became another reason for us to keep making records together