"Five" is such an uplifting song that shares a message we can all relate to. What inspires the themes you explore in your music?
Armando: Thank you, it’s such a pleasure to be here! I think the main themes are inspired by the timeline of life events that have occurred between Zandi and me. It’s funny because even our tracklist is in chronological order in terms of what was going on in our life.
Zandi: Long story short, It’s Weird was the start of it all, taking life as the scenery changed. Beautiful Heart came along when Armando fell in love with this girl named...let’s call her Aspen.
Armando: I don’t like that name.
Zandi: Whatever, that’s what we’re calling her. Anyways...He called for my assistance in writing lyrics about her. Then "Five" came along when things weren’t going as expected with Aspen, and l hated seeing how sad my best friend Armando was becoming. In my head, Five was essentially a gift to him, a subliminal message that I hoped he could resonate strongly with to remember his potential and get over this girl.
As for Push to Fly, it was the cherry on top, the optimistic bop that we needed as he was off to move away and start something new, and I was on my own ventures figuring out life still, yet knowing I was going to be okay. These songs tie together the themes of love, loss, and coming of age but in a light-hearted way that brings the point across. It’s crazy because even when you hit your 20s, you truly realize your shit is definitely not together, hahaha. You’re still stumbling around making sense of it all, and you realize that “winging it” makes up a big percentage of adulting.
The production of this song is well balanced and does a great job of allowing the story and vocals to shine. What is your production process like?
Armando: So Five was actually the second song we wrote for the EP. It started after we did a photo shoot with a talented local photographer named Sierra Greenlee, who has now become one of our very good friends! Zandi and I both agreed, “We need a sound to match our chill-vibed, pastel aesthetic photos.”
Zandi: I thought, “Hm, okay, I’m going to actually use my Bachelors's in Music Production and produce something with the same vibes.” I ran a slideshow of the photo shoot, and bam out came Five. Building on the momentum, I wrote the lyrics shortly after, writing from the perspective of Armando’s situation at the time. I showed my ideas to Armando, and it escalated quite quickly!
Armando: Zandi and I brainstormed the beginning guitar parts and then I took it to our other local musicians to add more organic instruments like bass and guitar.
Zandi: Our songwriting process is very organic, we don’t force, we kind of just flow. It varies between feeling a moment and creating the soundtrack versus the words.
You two make a great team and are doing something very unique. How did you two meet?
Armando: Haha, Tinder!
Zandi: And no, we didn’t go on a date; I specifically wrote in the bio I was looking for musicians in the area to jam with! So we met up, made music, and it’s been history ever since!
Undoubtedly, Scorpio Szn’s music will reach the world. What plans do you guys have to grow your music in the future?
Armando: We’re wanting to continue playing live shows and eventually a small tour! And expanding out of New Mexico.
What are some of your goals for 2020, Scorpion Szn?
Zandi: Survive Coronavirus, as well as write a set of songs to track and release for next year!
Armando: Yeah, beat Corona for sure. And we definitely wanna get new music out soon!
Read our full review of "Five" here.