Phil leans into Lydian for his songwriting challenge answer

For our second host-answer episode for our Songwriting Challenge 2023, Phil shared the process behind his answer to the challenge to write a song in the Lydian mode. Our good friend Susan Cattaneo joined in.

We talked about:

• How Phil experimented with various scales before landing on Lydian for his song
• How working in Lydian gave Phil a “back foot” transition into his chorus, which is usually more of a jump
• Using a pedal point bass in the verses
• Leaning into the intervals that define the identity of the mode
• Using different line lengths in your verses
• Playing around with the point-of-view in your song as a way to engage your listener
• The episode on writer’s block we did with Susan