Synapse: the site of transmission of electric nerve impulses between two nerve cells (neurons) or between a neuron and a gland or muscle cell (effector).

Rewind to 2010. 17 year old me is in a band with three high school buddies; Adam, Trey, and Max. It was seriously insane that we all met the way we did. These were, and still are some of the most talented dudes I’ve had the pleasure of making music.

We were Water’s Edge, the only instrumental band in the state of Rhode Island at the time and were getting some sick gigs around town. We also played at some pretty sketchy venues, but that was all a part of the fun.

Synapse is a redux of one of the first songs we wrote in that band. Most of the writing was done by either myself or Adam in my mom’s basement using a Line 6 Ux2 into PODFarm (IYKYK). These sessions were fueled by Taco Bell and passion for music.

The original version of this song was on our first album “Drifting.” We didn’t know what we were doing. Our artwork was hilariously terrible, the mix was non existent, the guitars sounded like they were down the street, the drums were.. live.. but we had no idea what to do with live drums...

…despite this, we believed in these songs. They went over so well in a live setting. The way this redux turned out is a testament to the fact that the foundation was there and we created something we could all believe in.

This was one of my songs front to back. Adam laid down a haunting ambient guitar solo over the syncopated buildup part. I recreated it and took some liberties with it. This was an opportunity to give this song the production it deserved.

Check out the original song here and see if you can pick out all the differences. Hint: They are not the same picture and that will be evident as soon as you hit play.

Here’s us playing Synapse as teenagers in Providence.

And here’s a clip of me riffing through it 10 years later when I decided to re-invent the tune