“THE VENUS FIX”
-A Trip into the Liquid Desert-
By Jim Wadkins
PART I
(Most of these tracks were written during the Winter/Spring of 2022)
1. Cemetery Fixin’
This track began the day I went location scouting for a Cemetery in January 2022, an early idea of where Aaron would go alone the night of his birthday. The idea originated as an homage to the legend of Robert Johnson learning to play guitar at the cemetery at night. Aaron would go to the train tracks for that scene instead of the cemetery but this song came out of the original inspiration. The opening notes felt like a door opening and aesthetically very “Sap”, Alice in Chains, an EP that heavily inspired the sound I was imagining for Aaron Solís. Stonery acoustic guitar and subtle tambourine and bango drum in the backing. An improvised lead guitar was added on top of the rhythm to create this dreamy desert sound; a rawness that is simultaneously very dry and very liquidy.
2. The Waiting
The Waiting as also very dark acoustic guitar in the vein of Alice in Chains. To this day it feels the most like a demo out of any other track on TVF. You can hear the faint metronome in the background which I forgot to mute in Ableton while I was recording. However, I switched over to GarageBand shortly after and didn’t want to re-record the track as I felt the raw lo-fi quality was fitting for what TVF was. The approach was the same as Cemetery Fixin’ in I used one rhythm guitar and improvised one lead guitar on top of it . It is also the only track to feature my vocals which are whispered at the end. It is a dark and moody demo vibe that represents the waiting for me to find the voice in the guitar sound I was trying to achieve. This was the first track written for Liquid Lady by myself with Cemetery Fixin’ being the second.
3. Nova Waves
Nova Waves was the moment I found that sound. It was recorded in a day in September 2022 after we had already filmed the Desert. In a way it’s me looking back at what the Desert was. I layered more sounds on top of each other but still utilizing improvisational guitar. I incorporated more of my metal roots and had fun with the Wah pedal which gave it a more psychedelic feel. I kept pushing into my roots and the song just became a metal Hendrix approach trying to create atmosphere and noise with the lead. I added some patch drums later to push the experiment in some type of metal lo-fi jazz direction. It’s easy for me to say that but in reality, it was all an experiment of how linear I could make the track. It’s easy to call it jazz to act like I know what I’m doing.
4. Desert Tribe
Desert Tribe is a simple piece. Finding a spot on the guitar that felt like moody desert. At this point in the script we had Aaron encountering a tribe in the Desert and I suppose the title comes from the idea that there would be a musical performance by musicians of the “tribe”. That song would be end up being “The Ceremony” something that completely blows this off the lid. But I still like the atmosphere of this track. I think there is a nightmare quality in the chords and the bango is quite a good addition. It’s stark, raw, and dry. There is a sort of dreamy exasperation and angst in the strumming verses something referencing my roots as angsty 16 year old metalhead.
5. Blue February
Blue February is a very special piece to me. The title is named after the month it was born. It started experimenting more into the process of writing and the sound became more of a “shoegazey” ambient track but birthed out of the guitar. A friend told me it reminded him of what Trent Reznor is doing with his ambient stuff. A huge compliment. I certainly took a lot of inspiration from Slowdive’s “Pygmalion” on this one. I think the piece really started to define what the ambiance of the Desert would sound like. I utilized a rain stick I bought for the Tribe we hoped to encounter in the Desert. Lead improvised tremolo guitar picking gave a sort of through line to the echoed rhythm. Tambourine and bongos were still being used in the process at this point. It is a marker for what TVF became and it is still one of my favorite tracks on the album.
6. Bird From Beyond
A bit of a strange number in the fact that this track is not at all moody. It is ethereal and optimistic. It revolves and simply flies on without ever looking down, just enjoy it’s surroundings in the sky.
One day while writing, I went out to my patio to smoke a cigarette and I encountered a very strange bird perched upon the railing. That same bird came back a day later and nearly assaulted me from the sky. Bird’s would have more of a thematic impact upon the film than I knew, as Miguel’s character can be interpreted as shapeshifting into a hawk at times. What I got to do on this track was have fun with the sounds I was establishing in a brighter light than the other sounds on this album.
7. Blackened Seems
There is a Chris Cornell vibe to this track. In the same vein of 90’s acoustic rock with a tinge of Mazzy Star melancholy, this song was meant as a foundation to Aaron’s general sound. Same approach as Cemetery and Waiting, it utilizes one rhythm guitar and one lead which is again, improvised.
8. Road Wanderin’
There’s a lullaby quality to Road Wanderin’. At this point, the script had Aaron walking along an empty road parallel to the empty Desert. If that version of the story had stayed I think perhaps this song would have been perfectly suited to that portion of the journey. It becomes a darker dragging vibe then back into that lullaby quality and then quietly dissipates. The length of the song is perfectly suited to a be in a film. I recently watched a documentary on Akira Kurasawa, that for him, complete songs/pieces of music are very difficult to use in film because they already feel complete. Incomplete pieces almost fit better because they are longing for that visual accompaniment that completes them.
9. Hymn of War and Peace
This is a dark track. I remember reading about Russia and the Ukraine the day this one came out. I wanted to play more with dissonance and improvisation. The moody/ chords I was establishing for the Desert were becoming clearer but other instruments such as the piano and an erhu were used for the first time in the writing of the score. I was beginning to layer more guitars and tracks were evolving a bit differently as certain instruments took the forefront of the melody as the guitar provided the rhythm. There is a dark psychedelic nature to this track. It was in the film where Aaron walks through the dried-up Arroyo, but later removed and replaced because it felt a bit too musical (funny to say this about dissonance) and perhaps busy for the scene.
10. Ticking Sands
This track became the basis for the Dune sequence. There is a heavy Pygmalion inspiration going on. Simple guitar chords are utilized and space between the notes were being used more. Where I went maximalism with Hymn I went minimalism with Ticking Sands and it became the atmosphere needed for the Desert.
11. Desert Sigh
This song is very cinematic to me. There is quite a bit of atmosphere and almost a Spanish quality to the guitar not heard before in the album. It feels the most “Venus Fixy” out of the Venus Fix to me because it is at the core of what this album is aesthetically. Guitar, reverb, mood, and subtle psychedelia. A lot of space to let the guitar breathe. This song found its place as the track used in the alternate trailer of Liquid Lady.
12. Bastet
I am a big fan of all things ancient Egypt. This is a part of the Egyptian trilogy in this album along with Snake Charmer and Triangle Slip. In the same vein of Ticking Sands, space is the being used more to provide atmosphere. It becomes more about the notes you don’t play rather than the notes you do. This was the first time I started slowing down recordings and manipulating the sound of the tracks in that way. Bastet was birthed out of “Snake Charmer” and features my Cat, Nina on lead vocals. A powerful piece to introduce the ancient quality of the Desert and the supernatural element of the Kiva.
13. Turning Sands
This track starts off with rainstick. And then it just goes, revolving constantly. There are probably 4 acoustic guitars layered at some point that just revolve around each other. Diving more into the ethereal quality of the sound that Liquid Lady would be, this track along with Bird from Beyond, shares a sort of optimism. There is some nostalgia in there but it’s a smile from nostalgia and not a frown.
14. Time Gate
Time Gate has one of the most persistent emotional qualities on TVF for me. It carries a sorrowful lullaby within it. There is a lot of space in between the guitars. The rainstick drips slowly throughout the track but never consistently. Being able to confront depression is an essential thing we must do as humans. Music, Film, Art, Dance, are a few methods we can use to exorcise ourselves. This track represents the purposelessness we feel in the darkest times. A lot of times anger is simply the outer filter for sadness. When we go deep enough and allow ourselves to be vulnerable we will find that our traumas need to be heard as they honestly as they are felt. We share the pain with each other not in vein of “misery loves company” but more so in the belief that we are strength in numbers and although we are unique, the human condition is universal. We are one. We may find comfort in each other if we can open our ears and our hearts. I’m off my pedestal now.
15. Dream World
Dream World follows suit with tracks such as Time Gate and Ticking Sands in pace but with a bit of Bird from Beyond in tone. It is more inspired by nature than the other tracks which convey more of empty space desert sand feeling. It has its whimsical moments with the piano. I wanted something ethereal. That was the word I was looking for. This is as close as I got to representing that word with sound.
16. Melting Sand
Melting Sand was an incomplete piece of remnants from so other track in the process of the scoring. It reminds me of pieces of Nova Waves where it transitions. This was not a track ever intended to be used in the film but provided a sludgy moment in Aaron’s long walk through the desert when he goes through the dried-up Arroyo. Paired with the insect noises and slowed down it becomes a psychedelic dissonant piece that was able to connect the visual pieces around it. It certainly feels like the most depressing and rough part of the desert trip but in reality, it was quite easy to shoot. I think the dried sand meshed nicely with Melting Sand.
17. Triangle Slip
Triangle Slip was an incomplete Egyptian influenced metal track that I slowed down probably to about 30 percent the speed. This was one of the first times I started slowing down entire tracks and it provided a totally different atmosphere. It’s creepy and wouldn’t be lost in a horror film. It never really fit the Desert in anyway but was simply an exercise in creating atmosphere and learning the techniques I would later use with the soundtrack. I think it’s unique in the fact it is a multi portioned song like Nova Waves, mind you a much “sludgier” one. Rhythm is not really kept by the guitars throughout and that imperfection is where I think it ascends from another ambient track to something truly dark. In my imagination the track walks you into a giant hallway or chamber as an ancient pharaoh is about to give a sentencing. It’s foreboding and slowburning. Once the song reaches its unassuming climax around 7:15 the super low end reverbed hollow guitars literally sound as if an ancient god of the Desert is communicating back with the higher bluntly picked guitars. The track ends with a sort of meeting in the middle between the two guitars in a warped wah guitar lick that is reversed. I find this effect really makes the guitars themselves into characters. They are theatrical pieces having a dialogue between themselves. Really what it is, is avant garde Egyptian fanboying.
18. The Zeppelin
The Zeppelin originated as an homage to the acoustic stylings of Jimmy Page. The acoustic picking of a track such as “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” is where the energy was coming from. It is a sort of call to adventure track but with a reminiscing quality that the rest of the album contains. It simply rotates and builds upon its motif as each guitar repeats. I think it’s one of the most “classical” pieces of the album. No manipulation is done to the track, just straightforward acoustic guitar and looping. This song was used in our” B Footage Previews” for our first private screening of Liquid Lady.
19. Sunbather
Sunbather was written on a guitar I don’t even own anymore. We were trying to find prop guitars for Aaron to smash and at the time Alejandro had owned a black acoustic. I found a similar looking guitar and wrote this song on there. It was a warped guitar probably from moisture of being in a garage for so long. The strings made this super piercing high tone that didn’t sound amazing all the time but somehow spewed out this track. The track is straightforward 2 guitars. One strumming rhythm and one acoustic lead. I like to think the entire lead is a just a solo over the rhythm. It is probably two different takes but all of the lead is improvised. It’s not a solo I could re-create if I tried but it felt perfect. In an earlier version of the edit, this was the credit song. I think it is one of the most beautiful of the bunch. It has hope, nostalgia, and energy to it. And it is extremely fun to play. I had been trying to write this song for years and it came out on an instrument I’ll never see again. I think it is that much more special to me because of that.
PART II
(Most of these songs were written during the editing process of Liquid Lady in the Fall of 2023.)
20. Entre Vessel
In revisiting the sound that The Venus Fix became, I wanted to expand on ideas and experiments I had done over a year prior. This is combining of early tracks TVF Part I with techniques I learned with the later tracks of Part I. It has a driving rhythm guitar and a metal/rock quality to it. It is a call to adventure and serves as a sort of transition between the two Parts. The intention to start Part II of the TVF was half procrastination and half necessity to keep writing music in my personal life. The theme was already there so it was easy to revisit the acoustic and play guitar parts in the same vein as the TVF P1.
21. Blotkeldur
Blotkeldur is a word I stumbled across in a book called “The Sky, Mystery, Magic, and Myth.” “In Iceland there were many blotkeldur, or sacrificial marshes, into which men who had been hanged were thrown as sacrifices to the gods.”
It’s certainly one of the most dreamy tracks on the entirety of TVF. I used electric guitar for the foundation of the track here. Again very Pygamalion inspired, leaning more into creating space and ambiance. This song was used in the first official private screening adjacent to the B-Footage which served as the previews for the film.
22. Confused Coyote
Confused Coyote was written as an homage to my brother in arms, the Confused Coyote himself, Alejandro Salinas. It was a nickname I gave him during the process of filming. It has that Alice In Chains quality to it, a dark country twang of sorts, and a grungy heart. I use a train whistle my Mom gave me a child which is sprinkled through the song. I also use my great grandfather, Jim Pattillo’s, harmonica for the first and last time in any track on TVF. I hadn’t played the acoustic in a while and this song was me going back to just getting a driving rhythm going on the acoustic. It has a head banging quality to it and is an extension of what I was trying to do when I began writing acoustic desert pieces with just two guitars; a solid rhythm and that improvisational lead meandering melody. I imagine a coyote rambling on the desert road to this track and it’s one of the most fun to play.
23. Desert Dog
I was wrong. Desert Dog is another Egyptian vibed track. It was perhaps a 12 second or so riff I created on the low end of an electric guitar. I recorded into my voice memo’s one day. A year later I revisited the memo, looped it, and decided to add some improvised distorted guitar shreds in the background. I threw an Erhu over it. It has a swagger to it. A sort of little brother pairing to the Confused Coyote.
24. Snake Charmer
Another voice memo I looped. It was the same riff that incepted the track Bastet. Here you can hear the guitar notes themselves. 3 or 4 two string picks on the high end of the guitar. I reversed the track and layered it to give some atmosphere over the original. If I ever encountered a snake on the Liquid Lady experience, this song carries the energy to control that beast.
25. Elgnairt fo esion
Pure dissonance and noise. Anti-music? Sound experiment? Reverse the title and you get “Noise of Triangle”. I took some piece of Triangle Slip and used that as the basis for the disgusting noise bubble this track is. As I child I remember finding myself in front of a piano one day and playing whatever keys looked appetizing to play. No musical knowledge or appreciation for melody involved just the physical action of making sounds through an instrument. There is something primal about that. I ended layering atmospheric sounds into the background to give it the appearance of some sort of intention besides the act of making noise. The track finishes off with some strange synth patch I played that surprisingly flows quite well into the next track.
26. Strange Sand
Strange Sand is revisiting what was left of Melting Sand after all the manipulation done to it through the editing process of Liquid Lady. I utilize some very strange and alien guitar effects. There is an outer space quality to the sound that came out of this sound experiment. I would say it’s one of the more successful experiments of the bunch, perhaps an excellent track to score a Sci-Fi film.
27. Desert Sunflower
Desert Sunflower is a collaborative piece between Ale and myself. It was written during the middle to later stages of the editing process. We hadn’t played guitar together for some time, so it was nice to do so again. We did have the intention of creating something for the Desert as the vibe was becoming clearer. The original recording is his guitar plucking and my guitar plucking interacting and counteracting with these very ethereal notes. Ale creates some haunting wind noises and hums in the backing of the track. It is piece that resembles the wind longing for something. I might have a layered a few more guitar touches to the atmosphere, but the core of this track is Ale and myself on two acoustics. This piece quite easily could be placed in the Desert and would fit. It is one of my favorite moments of musical collaboration between us and felt like a resolution to knowing what the Desert was musically.
28. Axis
Axis has a sort of Metallica picking to it and then bursts into an ethereal driving guitar rhythm. It is constructed more in the way a transition chorus-verse-chorus -bridge song is constructed. I did want to make it more atmosphere and give it a sort of climax so I brought the piano in, something that is done rarely on TVF. The mixing was difficult to get right on this one with the backing distorted guitars. I wanted noise and atmosphere in the background but still to have the melody to lead the track.
29. Bastet (LL version)
Bastet is one of most powerful songs in Liquid Lady. It is mainly atmosphere created through guitar manipulation, but the space is creates is equal in character to the distance Aaron is from his source once the second half of the film begins. Again it has an ancient quality and was the only thing that felt right to put over the Kiva and Ruins of Chaco Canyon. It’s a defining moment in the film. It states that music is now a character and it has a voice that will be heard and experienced from here on out. It’s trance enducing, and you get lost in it. It almost numbs you out to the point you forget your even listening to it. I think that kind of immersion is necessary when you’re trying to convey a visual/auditory experience through art.
30. Kiln Experiment
Kiln Experiment was born out of doing ADR for the Charcoal Kilns. We weren’t able to get Romario’s , who plays Miguel, guitar so Alejandro played simple Am Em plucks for the entrance of Aaron into the scene. It’s interesting to me that Aaron played his own entrance. Kiln Experiment was layered those 5-7 takes of the same idea over each other creating a sort of faux reverb where guitars are just sprinkling themselves over each other. It’s quite a pretty piece.
31. Melting Sand (LL version)
Melting Sand (LL version) was taking an incomplete idea and strengthening it to the point of completion. Slowing and reverbing heavily the adding essential SFX atmosphere is what really makes this track be the perfect glove between the Saguaro and the Dunes.
32. Ticking Sands (LL version)
The sound of the Sun. This was one of the greatest achievements I was able to contribute musically to the film. Paired with the Dunes where the Sun is centered, this is one of the most important moments artistically for the film. The Dune walk is long. Very long. But what was essential was showing that there wasn’t going to be tricks to get Aaron closer to his destination, he had to make the long walk himself. And to show that on camera was essential. The track is reversed and continues to its end. Perhaps I am beating a dead horse, but I think not. I don’t want you to escape the Sun. I want you to be where Aaron is and it isn’t easy. It’s a test in patience and attention. We decided late in the editing process that there did need to be a bit of dialogue in the Desert. The Dunes felt like the right spot. It gives the audience something to hold onto even its just a bit of dialogue. I want to refrain from telling the audience what to think or feel but the characters needed to check in with the audience here. The distance visually from us, gives an effect that they are almost talking to use through our own heads. It’s pretty psychedelic.
33. Grove of Solitude
A short simple acoustic piece I have since forgotten when I wrote it. It is another lullaby of sorts. An erhu is heard behind it. There is not much to say about this track besides it has the same tonal quality of moodiness heard throughout most of TVF. It needed to be included as a sort of Interlude in the album for the final three songs to come.
34. Ascension
Ascension was the name for our final portion of the Desert. While editing I wanted to write something that the imagery was inspiring. Although not used in the film this song is directly inspired by the images themselves. I think there’s a couple Kirk Hammet licks in there as I listen to it now. It felt very freeing to record. A definitive optimism sun soaked and saturated in world that was being created in the Liquid Lady desert.
35. Intention’s Cross
This is my spaghetti western track for Liquid Lady. It has a momentous feel to it like riding a horse over a mountain as lighting is striking all around you. That wasn’t the imagery associated with Liquid Lady so this track didn’t fit into the puzzle, but it certainly is one of my favorite tracks of the entire album. It is an extremely simple song and felt right going back to the Am Em guitars that defined most of the Desert. The middle portion has female vocal patches that I feel is some of the most beautiful choices I made in any song of this bunch. This song is who I became as a guitarist through the Liquid Lady writing process. Learning that less is often more. Defining my style and embracing who I am as a musician. This track is for me.
36. Flutter Away Dear Venus
This is a sort of epilogue to TVF. During the last weekend of filming in Galveston in September 2022, I had a few minutes to pick up a guitar and play. I just played some notes and recorded what came out. You can hear Romario in the background. I think everyone was having breakfast. It’s a bit of a fourth wall piece as it wasn’t so much inspired by the Desert or the film but written during the production as moment to take a breath and tune in with myself. It has a farewell but see you again quality to it. I think it’s the perfect goodbye to Venus.
0. The Album Cover
The album cover was taken from B Footage I shot during the first day Romario, Ale and myself drove out to the Desert. We were passing a windmill farm and anyone who knows me knows I have an affinity for windmills. The still shot of the Windmill used as the cover was placed into the intro of Liquid Lady very late in the editing process but chosen very early as the cover for The Venus Fix. It has a sort of 90’s look with the grain and the start yellow/black contrast. I can’t imagine another cover to accompany the music at this point.