We first interviewed Peter Sun about his original piece “Coming Home.” Now he’s back with a new release and a new name.
Natasha Barbieri: What does this piece mean to you?
Peter Sun: The song is about finding love and trying to navigate loving someone during the crazy times in the world. How do you navigate going into a relationship when it feels as though everything is falling apart? In the bridge I wrote lyrics about how falling for someone is extremely terrifying because love is sometimes as unpredictable as the world, and in times of such uncertainty, that’s a difficult reality to face. Realizing that love is the only true substance which binds us all together was the real awakening.
Natasha Barbieri: Did you start writing this piece with a specific story or musical phrase?
Peter Sun: I had the initial chord progression and melody for the verse bouncing around in my head for about three months before I put pen to paper and truly started the writing process. I was singing through what I had already written when I had the chorus develop spontaneously. “I’m not staying the night” seemed to fall into place. It reflected so much truth about what I was going through at the time, but I decided to keep it on the backburner for about 6 months before I finally released it.
Natasha Barbieri: Were there any challenging moments in this piece?
Peter Sun: I had so much I wanted to say but refining the message as a whole was the most challenging. The song is very personal, so like most writers do, finding the right balance of what I relate to and what other people can relate to was important in the writing. Writing is bitter-sweet because you really do start to face your own demons in a lot of ways. Things you want to ignore seem to manifest themselves subconsciously, and at that time, there was a lot I wanted to ignore.
Natasha Barbieri: Tell us a little bit about the production of this track?
Peter Sun: In the intro of the song, I used a recording from the Voice Memos app on my phone that I took of a squeaky door at a beach house in the Outer Banks, NC. It’s such a bizarre sound I knew had to include it somewhere in the piece. I wanted the production to sound raw, but sweet. I used some foreign instruments like the Kalimba, and Balafon, in addition to acoustic and electric guitars, pizzicato strings, and piano. During the chorus I used a broken harmonica that had the perfect blend of pitches that I needed. The track was made using authentic and real instruments, and because of that, I think it gives the song a level of humanness that is complementary to the lyrics.
Natasha Barbieri: How does this release fit into your development as an artist?
Peter Sun: Walk By My Side sets the mood for my future releases. I’m almost finished with my EP “The World Outside My Window” (releases beginning of next year) which will include Walk by My Side, as well as four other songs that are consistent with that theme. A music video is being produced by a stop motion studio in Virginia Beach, Virginia that I’m extremely excited about. Now that venues are opening again, I’m playing more shows, and hope to go on tour this summer.
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