Single to be released after contest as fundraiser for malignant hyperthermia research
Ferocious Designs, the music project of central New Jersey-based songwriter/musician Brian Kelley, has submitted the new song, “Life’s in the Balance,” for entry in the 2023 Fedivision Song Contest — a Eurovision-like competition open to those with an account in the Fediverse, a network of servers that are used to communicate with each other, share messages, music and more.
“I am a huge fan of Eurovision, which — until they started streaming it in the U.S. the past few years — has been difficult for somebody living in New Jersey,” said Kelley. “When I heard about Fedivision, I figured it’s the next best thing…and something in which I’m actually eligible to participate.”
The song entry is about being caught in a sudden life-or-death situation, a topic Kelley became familiar with in early May just as he was trying to come up with a song idea for Fedivision.
“I’m still uncertain how it happened because I had never had any kind of reaction to any anesthesia in my nearly 52 years on the planet,” said Kelley. “But shortly after receiving two local anesthetics during a routine dental procedure, I experienced an episode of malignant hyperthermia — even though the same anesthetics have been used on me before and, as I learned later, are not even supposed to trigger MH. But my entire body went into spasms and my temperature spiked to 105.5º F in a matter of minutes while in a grocery store parking lot, so I had to call 9-1-1 for an ambulance to take me to the hospital.
“The basic song concept came to me as I was lying there naked with minimal covering and numerous ice packs all over my body in the emergency room as staff worked to bring down my temperature,” Kelley added. “I wound up spending three days in the hospital, so I used my phone to jot down lyrics and record musical ideas. Thankfully, I eventually made it home to record it in my studio and get it into somewhat decent shape before the submission deadline.”
The song is entered as representing the fictional Constellation of Kasterborous — a Doctor Who reference — and has been assigned the code KAST. Only those with accounts in the Fediverse connected to the Mastodon.art server can vote via the Fedivision Bot. Voting is open now through 5 p.m. UTC/1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 18, 2023. To vote for “Life’s in the Balance,” use your Mastodon or other Fediverse account (i.e., Pixelfed, Friendica, PeerTube, etc.) to send a message saying “Vote KAST” to the Fedivision Bot.
While Fedivision rules allow for songs to be up to 4 minutes in length, Kelley opted to follow Eurovision rules and keep “Life’s in the Balance” at under 3 minutes (the song clocks in at 2 minutes, 56 seconds).
Shortly after Fedivision 2023 is over, “Life’s in the Balance” — with an improved mix — will be released as a single via Bandcamp and DistroKid. All proceeds from streams and downloads of “Life’s in the Balance” will be donated to the Malignant Hyperthermia Association of the United States (MHAUS).
Visit Fedivision.party to listen to all 43 entries from across the Fediverse and vote for your song of choice.
Ferocious Designs 