It's been two years to the day that we released “As Wide As Zen.” I've written and spoken at length about this song because, in many ways, I think it represents one of the high points of my writing in this band. It expresses so much of what has come to matter most to me in life, and I think it's a truly unique piece of music that has no exact stylistic parallel across the contemporary landscape.
My explanations of the song's themes are already well-explored enough in various media that I've worked really hard on, so I will simply link to those resources below.
What I will talk about, instead, is the creative process for the music itself. Because I think that tells just as much of a story about what was happening in the band at the time.
The song started with guitar ideas that Jericho had drafted. Almost everything he wrote in his original demo has survived into the final song with the exception of two riffs that would have served as the bridge of the song. There was initially going to be a drastic key change, and a shift to a riff style familiar to fans of mid 00's metalcore. Very much in the lane of that Gothenburg sound—Swedish melodic death metal mixed with hardcore. To me, it felt like such a drastic melodic and harmonic departure from the rest of the song that it felt worth saving for another independent piece of music.
I had been wanting to write something of a spiritual successor to “To The Wind” for a while. That was another song that had primarily been started by Jericho's guitar parts. This felt like the perfect fit, and I wanted to make sure that the whole song felt like a coherent idea from start to finish, even with all the genre bending and unexpected elements.
After reworking the structure of the song, I came up with the instrumental ending. While it's based around the same chord progression as the verses of the song, the guitar riffs in the ending instrumental section actually became the basis for the vocal melody in the verses. So there was a direct dependent relationship there—the verse vocals are built on the foundation laid by the outro. It's not a move I've made before in my songwriting, but I think it does add a tremendous amount of coherence to the song as a whole.
The addition of Chandelle as a second vocalist happened in the middle of the process. We were already in the process of recording the song and trying it out live when Chandelle first joined us on stage at a show. The added dynamic of having another very distinct voice in the mix was absolutely compelling and I knew I wanted to have her on this new music. We ended up doing all of her parts for the EP over a couple of sessions together in Toronto, and I love the results we got.
The sanshin was another later-stage addition, but once I understood for sure where the lyrics were going, making a nod to my Okinawan heritage felt like a very natural move to make. I did my best to approximate the sound of traditional Okinawan music as I could also also certainly being influenced more by western rock music and my own guitar playing habits. I'm still quite happy with the finally result and my family members who hail from the island have expressed that they think that part sounds good—so I will take that for all the endorsement I really need.
With this song, I think perhaps I finally achieved a truly encompassing and representative example of what I always wanted KOZEN to be—a true fusion of diverse influences and experiences giving new voice to ideas that really matter. And while I've spoken and written at length about how the lyrics to this song are geared towards that, I think that this is accomplished just as much by the sound of this song.
Most of all, I'm very thrilled by all the ways that people have told me they've connected with this song. It's an unusual one, but I can only hope that it's reaching people whose path through life might come across as a little unusual too. KOZEN's music, at the end of the day, is for people who are ready and able to celebrate and inhabit the space of “the unusual.”
Thank you for being one among that crowd. I hope this song is still speaking to you in whatever way you need.
-Max
