Sled Dogs - ‘Shades and Hues’ Track By Track

Sled Dogs is set to release new EP ‘Shades and Hues’ on Friday, October 20th. Shades and Hues explores themes of time, anxiety, the state of the world and mental health. The EP was written, recorded, mixed and mastered by Chris Ortiz, the founder of Sled Dogs. “Writing all these songs felt very natural to me. I love working with other musicians, but I wanted to try my hand at writing and playing all the parts. There was definitely a learning curve when it came to writing melodies or guitar lines that weren’t just rhythmic parts. I’m a drummer first and foremost but over the years I’ve dived into stringed instruments and gotten comfortable enough to even write parts for other bands. Recording, mixing and mastering was probably the hardest part, though. Finding the right gear, as well as finding the right DAW, seemed like the most daunting thing. Now that I’m a bit seasoned in it, though, I have a lot of fun with it”. Check out the exclusive track by track below.

Time Dog

The thought process behind Time Dog came from my wife and I having to put our dog down, Miles. He was a good, old dog, and like all good things, eventually they come to an end. The feelings of impending doom that come with observing the passage of time were the inspiration for this song.

Toboggan

This song was the first one that I fully committed to writing and playing all the instruments to. I wanted to capture the feeling of always having to move forward in life; even when you’re not feeling your best, the world still moves around you. This song is also a reminder to myself to take life one day at a time. Things change, people grow apart and it just is what it is.

The Return

The Return is all about going back to therapy and working on the new anxieties that life brings. A lot of the lyrics in the song are a reflection of how I’ve felt about losing friends or planning for the future, whether it be my future in music, or work, or my wife and I’s future plans. My buddy Cole, who sings on the track, did an excellent job bringing the feelings of processing old traumas and working on yourself to the song.

Eat a Republican (demo)

I wrote this song forever ago, when Trump was in office and I felt like the state of the world was going to shit. I felt helpless so I wrote a song about it, and a friend at the time lent me her wonderful voice to bring it all together. The idea of the tune was to write an “instructional” song for cooking the rich and powerful.

Thinking of Miles (demo)

This one is just me thinking about my wife and I’s dog, Miles. I wrote this back in January when we had to put him down and I wanted to celebrate his life and write something I think he would enjoy listening to. He loved having company, and he loved when we had band practice. He was the happiest dog and I miss him more than I ever thought I would.