creativity

Garrett Lajoie: Writing with FAWM for ten years

Hamilton-based singer-songwriter Garrett Lajoie talked about taking on February Album Writing Month for the last ten years and how that experience has shaped his approach to songwriting. Download the lyrics to Window Shopping to follow along.

We talked about:

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Writing an album in a month with Mark Ippolito and FAWM

by Neel Modi

Singer-songwriter Mark Ippolito talked about his experience with February Album Writing Month (FAWM), challenging himself to write a full album of songs in 28 days. Check out his album on Bandcamp.

We talked about:

William Shatner to Record a Heavy Metal Album Featuring Covers of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden
Our Song Talk Meetup
The wonderfully supportive community of songwriters at the FAWM website
The diversity of genres, instrumentalists, and approaches at FAWM
Opportunities for collaborations between lyricists and musicians
The organizers propose weekly challenges to prompt individual songs (e.g.

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Year End 2025

by Neel Modi

For our final episode of 2025, we reminisced over the past year, and talked about Neel’s ongoing exploration of his songwriting challenge song. We talked about:

Some of our favourite episode from 2025

Neel’s further exploration of his songwriting challenge song

Neel plays with a polymeter for his songwriting challenge answer
Suno’s interpretation of the lyric using the AI prompt “Create an epic orchestral gothic rock song similar to Evanescence using this chord and lyric sheet.”

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Neel’s answer to the Song Studio challenge

by Neel Modi

For this special episode, Neel shared his answer to the songwriting challenge from Song Studio to write a song based on the word “shadow.”

Download the lyrics and chords to Silence, absence, stillness to follow along.

We talked about:

Replies from our listeners to their featured songs on our songwriting challenge to write a song in an odd time signature
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Songwriting Challenge 2025: Listener Songs Volume 2

by Neel Modi

We showcased and reviewed songs from Dan D’Agostino, Lynn Moe, and Steve Johnson as answers to our Songwriting Challenge 2025, to write a song in an odd time signature.

Dan D’Agostino shared his song October Morning. Download the lyrics, including the time signatures, to follow along.… Read the rest

Songwriting Challenge 2025: Listener Songs Volume 1

by Neel Modi

We showcased and reviewed songs from Old Wooley and Paul Gallagher, as answers to our Songwriting Challenge 2025, to write a song in an odd time signature.

Old Wooley shared his song Driving Through The Desert. Download the lyrics, including the time signatures, to follow along.… Read the rest

Spotify, Rush, and our upcoming songwriting challenge

by Neel Modi

For this special in-the-family episode, we talked about recent changes to artists terms at Spotify, the breaking news about Canadian rock band Rush, and how we’re progressing on our songwriting challenge answers.

We talked about:

The changes to artist terms with Spotify – and it ain’t good…
Recent news about Rush going on tour in 2026 and playing with a new drummer
How Neel and Phil are progressing on their songwriting challenge answers to write a song in an odd time signature

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Mistakes that “amateur” songwriters make

by Neel Modi

For this special theme episode, we reacted to the Song Town podcast video “10 Mistakes that Peg You as an Amateur Songwriter.” We were pleased to have singer-songwriter Jessica Stuart join us as co-host. We covered a few of the mistakes, but be sure to check out the entire Song Town episode below for more.… Read the rest