Nikos Kazantzakis in “Asceticism“, gave perhaps the best definition of the human life cycle.

“We come from a dark abyss, we end up in a dark abyss, the light in the intermediate space we call it Life.”

Life is nothing but an adventure, an endless journey, a conflict with the unknown, the accidental, and the unexpected.

Although the ending is always stable, its path is full of quests.

In the middle of this journey, thoughts ignite our minds leading us to philosophical pursuits.

Searches for where we stand as entities, but also discovering common denominators that bind us, universally with our existence.

This is exactly what happened to Miki (Rhythm Guitar), of Shiraz Lane, when he “plotted” the lyrics for the song “Reincarnation“.

Shiraz Lane 1 — Photo: Official Shiraz Lane Facebook Page

The circle of life…

A bus ride was the reason for Miki to be absorbed in his thoughts on existence and the cycle of life.

As he characteristically explains to us:

“I caught myself swept away in my thoughts contemplating existence, the cycle of living things, and all the common universal denominators which we share and are bound to.

Birth,
Youth,
Growth,
Plateau,
Regression and eventually
Death.

Of course, all this is not the same for everyone, as Miki points out, on the contrary, “some get lost along the way, others survive until their body can not move.

But the point is that every step in your life is important and growth and progress should be cherished.

Although you never know when your time comes to leave the physical dimension behind“.

With these thoughts, the “Reincarnation” began to be created, at the same time “emphasizing the progress of life through transitions and variability of style”.

Miki lays the groundwork for the song and introduces it to the rest of Shiraz Lane.

The birth

At first, the song was called “Cycle of Life” by Miki, but “Ana (drums) instantly suggested the song be called Reincarnation “.

This change of name gave a hopeful turn while facing the inevitable end.

A composition, a song, a thought, the cycle of life, have those characteristics that make the path of life magical.

The path of a song has not only obstacles but also notes of hope and freedom that are formed during creation.

“This also gave us the liberty to experiment with the track even more.

For instance, we brainstormed the whole track to reincarnate so to speak.

If you listen to it on repeat the song itself is an endless loop which can be metaphorical for the natural cycle of life“.

Although the song was intended for their first album, however, life or maybe the god of Rock N ’Roll decided again …

As it was not possible for it to enter “For Crying Out Loud” in time, its journey continued until it was time to be selected.

Youth

Youth is the beginning of a journey in its purest form.

Obstacles during youth are not able to frighten the traveler.

On the contrary, they prepare him for the future and for the maturation of his emotional state.

And at this point, Miki explains to us that “youth” prepared the song to its final form.

“For the most parts, the song was ready to enter the demo stage, but we collectively decided to save it for our second album Carnival Days.

Since the song felt like too much to grasp on during the tight and hectic schedules of the ‘’For Crying Out Loud’’ recordings.

Retrospectively, this was a wise decision since it gave us more time to grow as musicians and channel the right emotion properly, and do justice to the composition.

As we finally grasped the challenge to lay down the track, I introduced the lyrics -which were again born mainly on a bus because at that time I used the Intercity bus lines on a frequent basis.

The bus ride would last quite precisely two hours in each direction, so I used this time to zone into the music and imagine the right words on paper.

After the lyrics were sketched, we took our time to adjust the lyrics to fit Hannes’ mouth“.

Shiraz Lane 2 — Photo: Official Shiraz Lane Facebook Page

Growth

With growth people mean the beginning of a person to enter the stage of maturity, through experiences and emotional ups and downs.

It is generally accepted that each person develops differently and although there are similarities, however, the differences are those that manifest during this development.

This is exactly what happens with songs. The phases of its development are not perceived before its final form.

There is a constant development of melody, lyrics, and even the members of a band and that is what makes the world of music so interesting.

Plateau

Although their producer was cautious at first, as maturity had “changed” the usual pattern of Shiraz Lane, no one can stop the “continuous growth“.

The stability that follows is an inextricably linked relationship and the key to growth.

“I remember his first reaction to be doubtful of the piece at first, and I can’t blame him since I can imagine it to be a shock to totally turn the tables musically on the customary patterns we were used to produce before.

But after some time the concept kind of grew on him and he ended up giving quite an impact on the end result“.

Melodically, the song undergoes some changes until its final form, mainly in terms of its length.

However, as Miki says, the comments of their producer were ideal.

“I think we deleted at least three ”extra” parts (the song used to be a couple of minutes longer) and he sparked the idea for adjusting parts around to make a more clear chorus, which turned out to be epic“.

Regression

Of course, looking back, no one can question the value of a piece of music, especially when the song goes to the pantheon of “all-time classics” for a band.

And “Reincarnation” belongs to this category, and not unjustly.

It is a song that talks about dreams, hope, relentless time, but also the beauty of saying goodbye.

Reconnection is what creates an anticipation and a continuous journey of life with all the beautiful, the bad, and the true feelings.

As their lyrics characteristically state:

“Time can be ruthless, It’s the beauty of saying goodbye and come together again. It’s the beauty of saying goodbye… Until we meet again.”

“After these finalizing sessions, we were home free and the end result is one of the Shiraz all-time classics“.