Afterlife is Vyb’s debut EP. Five tracks especially written to capture not only a particular vocal and musical style; but also to take you on a journey – through your hopes, dreams, fears, and beyond.

This is a very personal EP for me as a songwriter, with some of the tracks being written in an attempt to hit home my own feelings about life and everything it brings.

 

Why ‘Afterlife’?

I’ve met so many people in life who don’t seem to be really living – for whatever reason.

We place so many obstacles in our way that we become almost stagnant within ourselves. Whether it’s lack of confidence, fear of the unknown, low self-worth, an unhappy work/relationship situation, being judged, or we become complacent with what is expected of us. How many of us really live…… I mean ‘really’ live?

I think there’s a better chance of feeling alive if we allow ourselves to dream harder, find that better place, take chances, find ourselves, and with it, discover inner peace, happiness and contentment.We’ll never truly know these things exist if we don’t try and get there.

With this being said, Afterlife is more about life after life… the new life waiting once we’ve overcome the things holding us back from experiencing new things. I think that was the initial thought process when writing and producing the EP; and certainly a vein which runs through every song on it

Across the Line – Is the grass really greener on the other side?

It’s a saying we’ve all heard, but me being the songwriter I am, of course I’m going to be including other meanings within the song – it’s what I do. If the grass is greener on the other side, how does it appear when we look back at where we’ve come from?

It’s quite difficult to dissect the meaning behind Across the Line for everything is rarely as it seems – and be careful what you wish for. Those far away streets may not be filled with gold and the grass maybe isn’t quite as green as you thought it would be. 

Does perfection really exist? – I somehow doubt it. I do however believe that everything happens for a reason… whether or not you can relate to it at the time is irrelevant in the wider scheme of things, for whatever will be, will be.

A video of Across the Line can be found on YouTube – Here

To Find Me – Who are we really?

One of my personal favourites on the EP.

The song had been recorded before I met Bernie, but after hearing her voice it was an easy decision to put her vocal up front and re-arrange the music to suit her ethereal vocal style.

To Find Me is probably one of the deepest songs I’ve written in a long time.

The one thing we can never hide from is ourselves – we’re kind of stuck with who we are throughout life. On a positive note, nobody will know us better than we know ourselves – our fears, loves, hopes and dreams.

Every emotion we’ve ever felt is just another part of who we are – created and acted upon by us.

There will always be that thin line between everything we love and everything we don’t – life’s just like that.

You can try and hide as much as you want – love and fear will always walk side by side… whatever you perceive the two to be.

I think the message in To Find Me is to find yourself – whatever memories you may have of things going wrong in the past, we’re not getting any younger!

To see the video for To Find me, just go Here.

Through – We learn from experience, not expectation – find your own way.

Through is a survivor’s song – been there, done that, sold the t-shirt.

Music-wise, I wanted something quite dramatic to support the lyrics, something a little harsher than other tracks on the EP.

The song isn’t as much a personal reflection on my own experiences (very few of my songs actually are), it’s rather a homage to every person I’ve ever spoken to who has made it through an ‘event’ in their life.

When I was writing the lyrics and music for Through, I found myself thinking that the world is just a stage; and we’re just the actors playing our parts best we can. Some people have lead roles, others are there for support, but equally important in the grand scheme of things.

Whatever role we are given on that stage of life, when the spotlight hits – stand tall, be proud, and make it through until the final curtain comes down – we don’t get an encore in this play.

 

 

Not That Brave – Never let fear hold you back.

Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? – I’m not sure.

We all hold something dear to us – I mean hold it so closely that I would be surprised if anyone close to you actually knew what it was except yourself. Maybe we see it as our Achilles heel – if anyone else knew what it was, it would expose it to theft and emotional destruction.

By ‘theft’ I mean, “I really want to tell you, but I’m just not that brave”… you won’t know how to handle it, you’ll laugh at me, I’ll feel stupid… you’ll take that feeling away from me and it’ll be lost forever.” My advice – be brave… what really is the worst that could happen?

Expressing our feelings is something we aren’t particularly good at – especially our emotional feelings.

One thing you may find with Not That Brave is that although the song is pretty self-explanatory, I never mention what ‘it’ actually is – what you don’t want someone/anyone to take away from you – I felt that’s only something you as the listener would know and cherish.

Distant Wonder – Into the calm… into the blue.

Distant Wonder is one of those songs which just fell into place during the writing process. The lines flowed into one another as if I already knew what I wanted to say… it was actually a fun song to write despite being pretty deep in nature.

This is the only track on the Ep where Bernie and myself can be heard singing side by side, – it’s also one of the only tracks where there’s a definite Irish-roots connection with the music production.

The song was originally intended as a solo vocal track, but I knew Bernie’s voice would enhance the overall feel and so talked her into putting her stamp on it.

Distant Wonder makes you contemplate where you would go if you come as far as you think you can – when you’ve reached the shore… do you turn back, or dive into the blue?

In many ways it’s the ‘blue’ that holds those dreams you’ve always wanted – you just gotta reach the shore and jump in to find them… or you could always turn back.

 

Afterlife is currently available as either a digital download/stream via iTunes/Amazon/Spotify; or as a fully-produced physical 6-panel cd digipack. For more information, contact Vyb via Info@barryfleming.co.uk, or by using the contact form.

 

Our sincere thanks as always for your support ~ Vyb.