290 - Monstercat: Call of the Wild (Koven's Butterfly Effect - Artist Commentary) is the 139th episode of the Call of the Wild series. The episode was hosted by Koven for the release of their Butterfly Effect album and commented on each track as well as a couple of their Monstercat releases. The episode contained sixteen tracks, including all fourteen tracks from Koven's album. The episode is approximately 1 hour and 35 seconds (1:00:35).
Worlds Collide - Instead of an “interlude intro,” Koven wanted a full-fledged song that would be used for the opening of their sets and “felt like the beginning of something… We wanted to create something that grabs you straight away, full of power and emotion, and really sucks you into the moment to make you go, ‘Yes! This is where I am right now, this is me living my life, living this moment and loving everything about it.’”
Butterfly Effect - Katie went to a writing session with “renowned, top songwriters” as management wanted her to break out of writing by herself or with Max. Her experience at the time was “terrifying, it was really scary,” as she had the fear of her ideas being shut down. She explained her feelings to the songwriters and they created the lyrics based on them. “When you put yourself in a situation that seems quite daunting, there’s normally a really positive outcome. You have to push yourself through intimidating and scary situations in order to progress and achieve things. You have to let the nerves go and just do it… Let go of the butterflies.”
Followers - Max had the most struggle with the direction of the song’s production. “We had the first drop sorted for quite some time, but we knew we needed to have a different second drop. We got to version 53 before it was finalized. But we got there and it is massive!” Katie enjoys performing this song live.
All For Nothing - An anthemic feel-good drum and bass track, Koven received an overwhelming response from fans. “The feedback we got from you, I think you were really digging this one, I think you felt it in your hearts! Seems a lot of people really connected with the lyrics, the upbeat positive production and chords.” The overall message of the song is to not be hard on yourself. “I think we all have situations where we beat ourselves up and overthink things, and it always ends up being a waste of time. That energy that you spent was all for nothing. So just let it go, we all make mistakes.”
Speaking Through Smoke Detectors - In this “curveball” type of track, the song gives a “James Bond title track theme” to it. And while the lyrics have no connection to the title, there is a reason for the interesting title choice. “The original demo had a sound in it that sounded like somebody crying into a smoke detector. We decided to keep the title because we thought it was cool.”
Shut My Mouth - The heaviest track on the album, Max had the idea of having a shouted vocal instead of a sung vocal before the drop. Katie came up with the hook “Somebody shut my mouth” because she admits she can be “quite annoying” and “I just don’t shut up, I’ve been told it many times before.” Katie enjoys performing this track as it is “so much fun, so much energy. I can’t wait to go on the Butterfly Effect tour and just shout at you!”
Stars - One of Katie’s personal favorites lyrically, she wrote about her personal feelings at the time of writing, something she normally does not do. “Often when I write songs, I write songs about my friends and what I see other people going through. But when I wrote this, at the time, I was feeling down but quite optimistic. I’m constantly looking at what other people are doing [on social media] and comparing [myself] to other people’s lives and what they’ve achieved, especially by a certain age… I was questioning if I was running out of time, doing the right things, and why it was taking so much longer for us [Koven] to have success; [I was] constantly looking at others and thinking, ‘I’m not doing enough,’ or ‘we’re not doing enough.’ And in your personal life, you’re thinking you should get married by a certain age, have children by a certain age, bought a house, be in your dream job. All these things we’re constantly made to feel, and it’s not true… We can do things on our own time; we’re all different, we’re all living completely different lives and walking completely different paths. It’s really important to remind yourself that, especially with social media… As the lyrics say, ‘We’re all stars, moving at our own speed in our different galaxies,’ and ‘it’s okay to do it differently.’ And sometimes, it’s a really beautiful thing to do things out of the box and totally differently. If you’re feeling down and similar to how I was feeling, I hope this song helps you.”
For Me - Katie keeps her commentary short after the last song’s comments, asking “Who’s ready to have a little cry to this sad, but lovely, song?”
Give You Up - “We wanted to bring you some feel good, liquid, summer vibes, drum and bass with this track.”
YES - “We thought, with an album, we can do anything we want. So, we made a house track for the first time ever. We dabbled in a similar tone and style of music when we really settled. It went down well, so we thought we were brave enough to do it. We’ve been so lucky to cross over multiple genres, tempos, emotions and feelings, and we’ve always had such a good reception; we really appreciate you letting us have full creative freedom [on the album].”
Your Pain - The track started production five years before it’s release. It was later planned on being a collaboration with Tisoki until it “fell on the wayside… and just nothing happened with it.” Four years later, Koven revisited the track, finished it and put it on the album. Tisoki is now listed to have co-written the track. Katie “really love[s] the track has three different drops.”
Missing - During an interview, Katie and Max were asked what their favorite track is on the album, and they both said this track. “I think it’s still my favorite, but it’s so hard to say because I love so many tracks on the album. But, in my opinion, I think it’s a really beautiful song. We love how it builds up and catches you off-guard towards the end. And I really like the delicate approach to the vocal performance that I’ve done on it. I hope you think I sound nice on this one [too].”
Gold - “Shout out to Rocket League for featuring this track on their game. We got an overwhelming response when it was featured on there and to the track as a whole. It’s been amazing to read your comments on this track.”
Surely You Know - “We wanted to make the final track something really uplifting and quite euphoric. I think we achieved it, especially being able to feature the choir, [who] has really made it pop. We were very lucky to work with the choir on Speaking Through Smoke Detectors and Gold [as well], but mostly on this tune, the finale of our album.”
Worth The Lie - “One of our earlier releases with Monstercat, we were very lucky to team up with our very talented friends Feint and MUZZ to create Worth The Lie. It’s become a bit of an anthem over the last few years. A lot of people [including Feint and MUZZ] agree with that, especially when I perform it at shows. The crowd’s reaction to this is madness, and we still love it so much.”
Silence - “When we first released on Monstercat [with this track], it was pretty amazing for us. It really helped us in terms of building up our following, getting music out to more people, and things started to go really well once we teamed up with them. They’re such an amazing label to work with. We’re very grateful to be part of this label and to have released our album with them.”