Welcome back to the „Travel Diaries,“ the monthly blog series that takes you on a captivating journey through the musical world of TRAVELER. This month’s episode brings us to song number four, „Smooth Transitions.“ This funky and tropical pop track, infused with disco and jazz influences, holds a special significance as it traces its roots back to a line uttered by former President Barack Obama. In this blog post, we delve into the making of „Smooth Transitions,“ the struggles, the inspiration, and the heartfelt emotions that shaped this soulful melody. 

As with many songs, „Smooth Transitions“ was born from a spark of inspiration. One day back in 2016 in uptown Manhattan, while having pancakes with my buddy Pat and witnessing the inauguration ceremony of President Trump on TV, I found myself listening to President Obama’s words, „I feel responsible for smooth transitions.“ Those simple yet powerful words ignited a creative fire within me and set the foundation for what would become one of my personal favorites from TRAVELER. 

So, the inception of „Smooth Transitions“ can be traced back to five years before its finalization. It remained an idea among the multitude of bullets in the TRAVELER files until 2021 when I decided to dedicate time to crafting this unique piece. The process was not without its challenges. Although, back on that day in 2016 my buddy Pat and I had had that infectious Michael Jacksonesque/Bee Gees-like hook idea (head voice and disco move), finding the perfect structure for the verse and pre-chorus proved to be a daunting task. 

After months of experimentation and countless rewrites, the pre-chorus found its inspiration from Pat Metheny’s „Longest Summer.“ If you listen closely, you will see what I mean. Melody and Harmony of the line „There’s a gap in front of me“ are based loosely on the pre-chorus melody of that instrumental song, bridging the chorus and verse. Speaking of the verse, it was only a few months before recording the demos when I stumbled upon a simple yet effective solution. The use of just two Sus7-Chords in my beloved mixolydian way, this time inspired by Paco’s 1991 gem “Chick”, and complemented by a super monotone melody, brought the verses to life, culminating in a harmonious movement leading seamlessly into the pre-chorus. 

Despite the musical progress, „Smooth Transitions“ still lacked one crucial element – lyrics. During a challenging period in my personal life, I made a bold decision to be brutally honest and sincere. Pouring my heart and soul into the song, I think I managed to infuse it with raw emotion, making it one of the most heartfelt and honest compositions I had ever written. 

The cathartic experience occurred during my yearly stay at my beach house in Greece, where I had the song played as a MIDI file in MuseScore 3. Tears welled up as I listened to the song, realizing that „Smooth Transitions“ was a gem in the making. It became a letter to myself, my loved one, my music, and anyone facing similar inner struggles and uncertainties. 

„Smooth Transitions“ aptly captures the delicate balance between freedom and compromises that we all seek to find. For me, it represents the struggle between my past life as a carefree musician and my desire to become a responsible adult, partner, and potentially a father someday. The song’s core theme revolves around the fear of failure, making wrong decisions, and losing oneself in the process. 

“There’s a gap in front of me, I am losing the track 

If I took a gentle leap there’d be no coming back.” 

In the end of the day, if you break it down as a whole, as always, the question is: Who am I and who do I want to be? Not only do I beg for a sweet and painless way to get myself organized and to be able to have the life that I deserve. Not only am I feeling responsible for smooth transitions, but I am also desperately asking for them. One may feel drawn to the allegory of faith; looking for faith and asking a higher power for help, or at least, complaining about the difficulty of the situation and just screaming desperately: I need you, smooth transitions! As we often do in songwriting, I put my love life in the center, trying to portrait this bigger issue in a personal way. This song is full of pain, yet there are always those sweet memories of how we first met, how beautiful it was and so on. And then, there is always this voice drawing me away from that happiness, making me ask myself: Is this who I really am? Or am I free as a bird, a musician traveling the world and being a loner, always and forever?  

„Be my love afar, across my guitar runs a shiver …  

Of Smooth Transitions.“  

This is nothing but a utopian image, describing my guitar as the bridge between us, in a way as a life vest. Smooth transitions are desperately needed, to redeem myself from the inner turmoil and the torment of being torn into two pieces. I long for order. I deserve happiness. And I don’t want to have to decide. I just want to be me. This is what was in my mind and soul back then, when I was writing those songs.

And it all started 2016 with an Obama line … 

As we come to the end of this episode in „Travel Diaries,“ we’ve witnessed the birth and evolution of the song „Smooth Transitions.“ From a chance encounter with President Obama’s words and pancakes to a heartfelt expression of inner turmoil and personal growth, this song captures the essence of my journey as an artist and as an individual. 

Join me next month for another episode of „Travel Diaries,“ where we delve into the heart of the next station.  

Until then, may you find your own smooth transitions on your journey through life. Stay tuned and keep grooving to the beats of „Smooth Transitions“! 

Also, if you want to know more about project TRAVELER, how everything started and who I am, I invite you to subscribe to my E-Mail list. There is plenty of subscriber-only stuff going on over there and I’d love you to be part of this!

Cheers

Jannis

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PS: I thought I’ll add some personal notes at the end of each blog post, giving a short insight into my own journey right now. So, here it is:

My current diary pages (July 2023)

• I have been running and meditating every morning since we last saw each other. Don’t forget: Sometimes the only thing you have to do in order to be happy is to show up fully in the present moment!
• The next TRAVELER live show will be in September at the „Loop“ in Vienna.
• I have been playing a lot of live shows lately, some of them with my partner Elena, celebrating our love for Greek music from the 60ies. This is one of my absolute favorite musical projects!
• I am spending a lot of time with my other project these days, my German fantasy novel. I started creating a wiki on Fandom and reading my first published book again. Although this has nothing to do with project TRAVELER I invite you to check out this body of work if you want.

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