Dark Forest Frolic: A Song Born From a Spontaneous Studio

After a busy day last week, my husband and I decided to go into my studio and play some music. He grabbed his guitar, and I sat down at the piano.

We’ve recently started making music together again. For a while, we’d been distracted—life, work, everything in between. But between us, we probably have enough songs written to fill two or three albums. Right now, nothing is quite ready to be recorded, but we’re slowly finding our way back.

That night, we started by playing through a few of our older tunes—songs from years past—just trying to reconnect with our groove and each other’s musical energy.

Then something shifted.

We settled on one particular song that needed bass instead of guitar. So, my husband went to grab his bass, and I stepped away for a few minutes to let him tune. When I returned, he was experimenting with a short motif—a repeating melodic phrase. He played it over and over again, letting it evolve naturally, and then gave me the notes so I could play along.

As he repeated the ostinato, I hit record, closed my eyes, and let the notes guide me. I began with a simple chord progression—spare and foundational. The next time through, I added a slightly more intricate version, still keeping it minimal but giving the motif a stronger base to land on.

This song is now our third true songwriting collaboration. Most of our songs start with one of us writing the bulk of it, and the other coming in later to enhance. But this one is growing from the same place—from both of us, together.

He played the ostinato again and again. I stayed eyes-closed, listening deeply, until I could see something: a flickering scene unfolding in my mind. We played with tempo, adjusting, exploring, until it felt right—and then a vision emerged.

I saw sneaky, mischievous woodland sprites playing hide and seek behind the trees. Fireflies floated through the air. I could hear the shimmer of tiny bells, the breathy lift of a flute—or maybe even a penny whistle. The music felt whimsical, but with an eerie undertone. A kind of folklore mischief.

Once we had the ostinato and melody locked in, the chord progression came next. The song is far from finished, but we’re off to a beautiful start.

And we already have a working title: “Dark Forest Frolic.”

I imagine something spooky, whimsical, and deeply rooted in folklore. I can’t wait to see where it takes us next.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwsdFLh4930