We had been working on the instrumental for a while, and one weekend we played it out live at a show we shared with him. There were no vocals, just the track, as our closing song. Right after our set, he took the stage for his live show and began singing over it. Danielle and I looked at each other. It was instantly one of those “we have to make this happen” moments.
A week later, Tone Of Arc sent us the vocals, and they were incredible. He mentioned he was sick at the time, which made his voice deeper and raspier, and it fit perfectly with the mood that Lores had already set.
That combination, Lores’ beautifully haunting foundation and Tone Of Arc’s raw vocal, is what gave “Coal in My Chest” its identity. In many ways, it defined the album as a whole.
Lores pro tip from Dove City: When writing vocals, treat Lores as a conversational partner rather than background filler. The textures create space for a lyric to sit emotionally, which makes the vocal and instrumentation feel like they’re telling the story together.
