“Wild World” by Marc Scibilia is a tribute to the strange world we’re living in, with an emphasis on that one person you couldn’t live without in these weird times. It’s a song that makes you feel good, but under the upbeat first listen it holds a depth of hope and longing. It’s repetitive lyrically, and it should be, because what’s there is powerful and enough.
Leave a light on so I can see
It’s a wild world without you baby
Writing and recording an album in the middle of a global pandemic is absolutely not easy, but Marc touches on the ways he worked around it, and on the ways that he was even able to find fresh inspiration in these times. While the world around him was running wild, he suffered a great loss and experienced a great joy right in the middle of the madness.
Of course he had a lot to write about.
You can hear all of that emotion in “Wild World” come through – and it comes through loudly. With a triumphant mid-section of “Ohs” accompanied by lots of guitars and a driving bridge repeating the words “I’m coming home,” you can’t help but feel what we’ve all been experiencing in these times: longing for better days and a thankfulness for the people around us.
Listen to “Wild World” here, and follow Marc around the internet: Facebook // Twitter // Instagram // Website
You have an album coming out November 13th, and your first single came out a few weeks ago. Could you talk a little about the recording process and what we can expect from the album?
Basically I wrote these songs over the course of the year when my dad got sick, just processing and living in that experience. My daughter was born two weeks before we found out my dad had a brain tumor, and it was such a range of emotions.
I was really writing this album for about a year, then COVID-19 happened. My dad passed in early January, and COVID-19 happened soon after, so it presented itself as the perfect opportunity to really focus and record.
I wasn’t able to be in the studio with people, so I produced and recorded most of it myself. Then I would send things out to collaborators like Brian Fallon from Gaslight Anthem and Cory Wong from Vulfpeck. I used a lot of guitar on this album because my dad just loved guitar. It ended up becoming a digital collaboration.
Tell me about the inspirations and influences of “Wild World.”
I wrote this right before my daughter was born. I was thinking about bringing a kid into the world, and how crazy that felt at the time with everything going on, even now. I just thought about how when you zoom out too far into what’s happening in the greater world, sometimes it becomes anxiety producing.
“Wild World” is really about focusing on what you can change, and being good to the people around you whether it’s your neighbors or your family. It’s about focusing on the small things in the world around you.
I know for some musicians, quarantine has been a very inspiring time to dig deeper into the songwriting process. What has it been like for you?
All I’m doing is working on music. It’s very similar to my normal life, just without all of the distractions. There’s no one stopping by, so it’s just focus, focus, focus. I’m finishing building a studio that I should finish this week, so it’s really the last album I’ve made in the studio in the basement of my house.
What would you like the future to hold for you?
I’d love for people to hear this record, and of course I’d love to tour when that seems possible. I’m really enjoying getting to know my daughter, so I’d love to provide for my family and just be a great dad.
