Moby and Kelli Scar create song for NPR Music's "Project Soong"

It typically takes weeks, even months to write a song. NPR Music’s “Project Song” invites musicians to step outside of their comfort zone and produce a new track in the NPR studios in just two days, while documenting the creative process. Moby and singer Kelli Scarr bettered that challenge, crafting a song in just under seven hours. “Gone to Sleep,” the original piece the two produced for “Project Song,” is available to watch, hear and download beginning today at NPR Music. Bob Boilen, host of All Songs Considered, also shares the story behind the song tonight on the newsmagazine All Things Considered.

As with past “Project Song” subjects, NPR Music provided Moby and Kelli Scarr with space in its illustrious Studio 4A and instruments, and then asked the duo to select an image and a word to inspire the song. They chose a photo of a man in a forest with an exploding, glowing head, and the word “Sunday.”

With inspiration in hand, Moby quickly started building a song, moving from bass to drums to piano, and finally to electric guitar, while Kelli Scarr jotted down lyrics. They finished with much time to spare, and wound up recording an acoustic version of the song from scratch the next day, then performing the song at an impromptu Tiny Desk Concert at Bob Boilen’s desk for NPR staff. Videos of the creative process – shot on multiple Canon 5D cameras by NPR’s multimedia team – and original and acoustic versions of “Gone to Sleep” are at NPR Music: www.npr.org/music The original version may also be downloaded for free at the site.

“Project Song” was widely praised by critics and listeners when it debuted in November 2007 with songwriter Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields and his song “A Man of a Million Faces.” The occasional feature is part of NPR Music, a free, multimedia website at www.npr.org/music that offers 300 new features monthly and an extensive archive, in collaboration with NPR's newsmagazines, 12 public radio member stations and the passionate NPR community. NPR Music creates and distributes inventive music coverage across multiple platforms – from web, to radio, to podcast, to mobile, to social media, to live events – with first listens to new albums, live performances, concerts at the Tiny Desk, interviews, reviews and blogs.