Track-by-Track: Liz Hogg Reviews Her Album ‘Goodbye World Hello Something’

For a rather young person, Liz Hogg has accomplished a lot in her time. Still only in her early 30s, her musical career accomplishments rival and exceed those of many years her senior. A composer and singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, Hogg is a classically trained guitarist and electric guitar aficionado. She has received widespread acclaim for her guitar playing, particularly for her style and originality. As a singer-songwriter of her own original music and a classical guitarist, Hogg has visited 26 countries across four continents and has also touched down in 22 U.S. states. Her guitar playing has been praised for its spirit and flavour, as well as for the energy she exudes from the instrument.

Her latest piece of work is her new solo album, Goodbye World Hello Something. Released this past November, the ten-track effort was written and composed entirely by Hogg. It is a deeply personal record that looks at the anxious courage that it requires to leave your comfort zone. There is a whole world of the unknown out there, and this record is an account of Hogg trying to come to terms with how to accomplish branching out on her own. The album will particularly resonate with young listeners who are also trying to confront their fears as they move on to different phases of life. It’s a monumental work by a young artist with many musical accomplishments still to come.

Liz Hogg joins us today for a Track-by-Track rundown of Goodbye World Hello Something, sharing with us in great detail how each composition was written.

“Each of these songs began as ‘kernels,’ short musical ideas I recorded between 2009 and up to today, which I compiled in 2023 and released on Bandcamp in their original form. The explanation behind each song will start with identifying its original kernel. The lyrics are available on Bandcamp.”

1. “Things I Said Before”

“Kernel 12 recorded 11/26/20 in a hotel room somewhere.

“The intro guitar riff, which oscillates between two chords, was the rhythmic, sort of funky motif. This was the only song on the album that I didn’t write solely from the kernel (as I decided on the process to write each song by the time I finished this song). I actually had the chorus that ends the song (in a different key) stuck in my head for a while, and the concept of feeling frustrated and sick of yourself for repeating cycles.

“After I wrote the chorus and was trying to figure out the rest of the parts, I started to make a concrete plan of how to write each song, which involved starting with a kernel and writing all the other parts based on it. I didn’t pick favourites with the kernels (so as not to make the long-term process an uphill battle on future albums) but selected the first ten in the folder Acoustic Digital (I created seven folders for the 283 kernels based on instrumentation and recording method).

“The album was written in track-list order, so considering that this would be the opener, and that the kernel was a little bit funky, I was inspired to add a lot of different sounds to try and reel the listener in, which gave way to my animal noises, as well as real animal noises, rainforest sound effects, and some light percussion, and little details like whistles, etc.”

2. “Wonder When”

“Kernel 13 recorded 04/12/21 at home.

“The opening baseline of the song is what kicked off the idea. I was in between takes of recording Regondi’s ‘Etude #1’ for my YouTube channel when I had to pause to record this bassline that popped into my head, complete with silly faces to go along with it that I probably won’t ever post. I wanted to create a straight-ahead, driving song that chugs along nicely, a la a bunch of songs by The Cars. This, as well as the first and third songs, were the only ones Daniel Siles (drums) and Carlos Truly (bass/production/engineering) practiced in our single band rehearsal. This is because they were the only three songs I had demoed at that point.

“Our second practice got cancelled due to someone getting sick, so I put my trust in them and made the remaining seven demos as tight and clear-cut as possible so we could knock them out in two eight-hour recording sessions (that is, sans bass, which Carlos did at home later on).

“All to say that having a chance to rehearse this one for a bit together added to its playfulness because having a chance to hear it with live musicians made me more confident in all the stopping and starting that I might have otherwise not fully believed in. Lyrically, it’s about someone basically waiting for things to take off for them, but the seriousness and longing are tempered by a slightly lackadaisical and relaxed attitude that makes it a little bit humorous, which I was going for.”

Liz Hogg ‘Goodbye World Hello Something’ album artwork

3. “On Paper”

“Kernel 15 recorded 04/26/21 at home.

“Erik Satie’s ‘Gymnopedie 1’ was one of the first classical pieces I liked, and the chord progression (IVmaj7-Imaj7) is one that gets stuck in my head a lot. In the key of C, that’s Fmaj7-Cmaj7. I modified it by usually making the seventh a ninth (G) and sometimes adding a D as well, and those slight differences really piqued my interest, as did the oscillating bass line, another thing I tend to do a lot, chromatic dyads. The kernel inspired me to do something on the softer, simpler side, and to keep it all acoustic. The concept has to do with simplifying your outlook on life to what can be put down ‘on paper.’

“Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s real. Sometimes things are real even if they’re not consummated. And sometimes things are real if they’re unspoken, even your entire life. But yet that’s no way to live. Anything real should be consummated, or else it’ll destroy you. So it’s kind of an encouraging blueprint for life: put it down on paper, or burn it. If it can’t be put down on paper, it’s not actually real anyway and a destructive illusion. It may be real, but not real enough.”

4. “Belly”

“Kernel 16 recorded 06/25/21 at home.

“This kernel was recorded in drop C# tuning, and I later gave the guitar part to the bass. I heard a lot of melodies and little riffs in the bass-line which turned into the crescendoing layered guitar intro. I like songs that have main sections, i.e., verses or choruses, without actual chords but just a cool riff that implies harmonies. So I wanted to do that for at least a couple of songs, and this was one of them (for the verses, as well as the bridge). In the chorus, I sing repeatedly, with no breaks, ‘la las’ inspired by the Beatles song ‘Girl’ where they sing ‘tit tit’ as a joke.

“Drumwise, I wanted to write a song that had the same drumbeat for both verse and chorus, yet still achieve a bigger, chorus effect. I was surprised, in transcribing various drum beats, by how much simpler and sometimes completely unchanging drum parts are, all without sacrificing the large quality a chorus should have. It creates a unique feel that adds some variation to the album. The lyrics are a little bit tongue-in-cheek, focusing on being excited over a specific, untraditional body part of an imaginary man, similar to how an animal might view another animal, offset by a chorus that remembers they’re both human, and therefore, probably sexually screwed up in some way or another (laughs).”

5. “Master & Commander”

“Kernel 17 recorded 09/19/21 in a hotel room.

“This kernel comes from experimenting with the C chord shape slid up to different frets, not worrying about barring the open strings once going past the first fret (required to keep it a major chord) and just having fun with that voicing. The chords had a melancholy, lost vibe to them and between a PBS VHS Lost Liners I randomly owned from my childhood home and watched for the first time around that time (good documentary!) and the fact that I was going to live on a ship for the first time ever soon, I thought of making a sad love song that analogized a relationship with a sinking ship, pretty easy to do.”

6. “Irreversible”

“Kernel 20 recorded 12/10/21 at home.

“I think this song came from revisiting a song I wrote when I was 16, ‘On The Beach,’ which itself was inspired initially by the guitar riff in a New Order song ‘Run.’ A lot of their songs have very clear, easy-to-play, simple guitar riffs that are super effective, and I was revisiting that idea, with the intention of writing something a little slower, when this riff materialized. I harmonized the riff to create the verse, and for the chorus, I wanted to create something really punchy and catchy, so I spent a lot of time perfecting the drums and bass for the chorus.

“The outro, my favourite part, came from rendering the drum beat backwards, which I think was just something I tried to think of ideas for the outro drumbeat (being that I already settled on the title Irreversible). I loved that effect and also slowed down the drumbeat, in addition to throwing in some backwards guitar, again serving the song title and a pairing of two different chord progressions, one happy, one sombre, which is how I feel about the inevitability and finality of things. It’s bittersweet that nothing can be done over and everything’s permanent, which is basically the message of the song, framed from a relationship standpoint, because love songs are the best.”

Liz Hogg, photo by Black Dog Studio

7. “Curl”

“Kernel 21 recorded 01/11/21 at home.

“This idea came from arpeggiating two chords, both on the ninth fret, each decorated with higher notes that are the same on each chord. That’s a formula I often like to play with and forget where I heard it first, but it’s in lots of songs: repeated melodic idea of some kind over two different chords. I then built it out with interlocking guitar riffs that created a rhythmic groove I liked. This song is probably the most ornate guitar-wise as well as bass-wise, the only track with a bass solo, so I spent the most time trying to write melodic riffs and solos that complemented the drum groove.

“Lyrically, it’s inspired by a dark, tightly wound curl. It’s nice to have at least one song written with a specific person in mind, but in a way that can be disguised should you ever regret it later or don’t want them to know. So curl can apply to more than one person. It has a couple of inside jokes, but basically deals with being frustrated and disappointed with someone and trying to get them to see the light.”

8. “Round The Corner”

“Kernel 23 recorded 01/18/21 at home.

“This song materialized much the same way as ‘Irreversible:’ a simple guitar riff, which I then harmonized and turned into the chorus of this song. For the verses, I kept the arpeggiated idea, but opted for two very fast interlocking guitar riffs with a couple of dissonant ‘blue’ notes thrown in that disrupt the last chord in the cycle to keep it interesting. I wanted to create a happy, positive song and make sure to have one fast song on the album.

“I employed another songwriting tactic I’ve noted in songs but hadn’t used yet: an instrumental chorus that starts off the last iterations of the choruses, which ends the song. And I also had a little fun with a synth and a MIDI trumpet thrown in as upfront in the mix. Since the character is maintaining a positive attitude on love, it explains spying on someone or somehow realizing that they’ve been false or misleading in some way, but ultimately recovering with the optimistic chorus.”

9. “Instructions For The Physical World”

“Kernel 27 recorded 03/25/22 at home.

“This kernel turned into the verse, which features it by itself, in addition to a harmonization of the oscillating riff. I wanted one of the album songs to have a more extensive intro, which I think works well for track nine, and tried for the first time writing a modulating part, or what could be argued as just polytonal, or maybe more simply put, just two keys quickly squished one after the other. The keyboards start in one key, and then the guitars enter in another and displace them gradually in the mix. I wanted it to have the sense of descending from space; the keyboards were in their own, distant galaxy, so to speak, while the guitars reel the song back into planet earth, where the singer is.

“So the song is about the contrast between the physical day-to-day world and the inner emotional world; how they clash, and require different things to succeed. My second favourite Beatles song is ‘I’m Only Sleeping,’ and I’ve been a sleepy head my whole life. Always sleeping in as a kid, loving to sleep in as an adult, absolutely hate getting up early and not getting enough sleep, so the lyrics are a little humorous with ‘time is limited so I’ll sleep a lot’ but that’s actually how I feel about it: it’s very important to sleep enough because your time is limited so you’d better be well rested.

“There’s also a nod to the existential issue women face about having to check off certain things in their 30s, when everything becomes a ticking clock, and just wanting instructions to deal with it all, but they don’t exist; you have to make them up, and even then, you’ll probably fail if you’re too rigid about things.”

10. “One Thread”

“Kernel 28 recorded 03/26/22 at home.

“This song’s kernel is almost exactly a slowed-down version of track nine’s kernel. My favourite album of all time, Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt (by John Frusciante), has a gorgeous two-song couplet (‘Untitled #6’ and ‘Untitled # 7’) where ‘7’ is a slowed down version of ‘6’ in many ways, and their sequencing, on top of just the amazing music, creates a whole other layer of excellence. So I think I was channelling that, considering this kernel was recorded the very next day.

“This is probably my favourite song on the album, because I think it comes most from the heart. The lyrics are pretty direct and explain exactly what I mean, something I’m always trying to get better at. They’re not really shrouded in mystery or have double meanings. It’s just about a character who believed in a love that lasts a lifetime, but facing the reality in the end that there’s only them, no higher power holding it all together, and at the end of it all, they just have to take the wheel and live their own life. The only thread you have ultimately is with yourself. But there’s no clear conclusion about it in the song; there’s still a hopeful and unfinished vibe to it.

“This song also has drums that have the same beat for both verse and chorus. I was reading a book I own called Bass Heroes, and the chapter on Paul McCartney had him explaining that he mixed the drums and bass very loud for ‘Silly Love Songs’ because it was a ‘dance tune.’ While I didn’t think of that song that way before, I love the way it’s mixed, and said that’s what I’ll do for this one. I also used the form of that song as a blueprint and the beautiful three-voice part that comes in towards the end as inspiration for all the little voice parts that build in the chorus.”