Ferocious Designs, the music project of central New Jersey-based songwriter Brian Kelley, has released a standalone single titled "Life's in the Balance," available now for streaming and download at FerociousDesigns.com. A music video for the track has also been released.

Proceeds from streams and downloads of “Life’s in the Balance” will be donated to the Malignant Hyperthermia Association of the United States (MHAUS). MH is a rare, potentially life-threatening condition that Kelley had an unexpected experience with in May.

“Shortly after receiving a couple of local anesthetics during a routine dental procedure, I experienced an episode of malignant hyperthermia,” said Kelley. “I’m still uncertain how it happened because it was the first time I, or anyone in my family, has experienced any kind of reaction to anesthesia in my nearly 52 years on the planet. And, as I learned later, local anesthetics, in general, are not even supposed to trigger MH.

“But my entire body went into spasms and my temperature spiked to 105.5º F in a matter of minutes while in a grocery store parking lot, so I had to call 9-1-1 for an ambulance to take me to the hospital,” added Kelley. “It was a scary situation for the first couple of hours, but I actually started coming up with lyrics and musical ideas while in the emergency room.”

“Life’s in the Balance'' wound up being Kelley’s entry in the 2023 Fedivision Song Contest — a Eurovision-like competition open to those with an account in the Fediverse, a network of servers that are used to communicate with each other, share messages, music and more. Mastodon, the decentralized Twitter alternative, is part of the Fediverse.

“Back in November, I was among the many who fled Twitter and headed to Mastodon,” said Kelley, a self-avowed Eurovision fan. “I found out about Fedivision a few days before I wound up in the hospital and was having trouble figuring out what to write about, so there was at least one good thing that came out of my ordeal.”

And while the song did not place in the top 5 of the 43 entries in the Fedivision contest, Kelley did see a number of positive comments about the track, with some users including it on their list of favorites.

“All I wanted was to get a small taste of what it might be like to be a Eurovision contestant,” said Kelley. “And I made quite a number of new connections with many of the artists who entered the contest. The experience was amazing, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s edition.”

Also, Kelley is fully aware that “life’s” is an informal contraction for “life is” and looks awkward in a title.

“Artistic license covers a lot, as far as I'm concerned,” said Kelley.

The release comes as Bandcamp holds its annual Juneteenth fundraiser for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, so Kelley has included an updated mix of his 2021 track "Lay It on the Line" as a B-side. "I first released that song — my first-ever single — for the 2021 Juneteenth fundraiser as it deals with racial injustice and inequality," said Kelley. "I recently revisited the mix of that track and punched it up a bit, so I figured the timing was right to release that, as well."

Ferocious Designs is the (mostly) DIY music project of central New Jersey-based songwriter Brian Kelley. Although he has spent most of the past 30-plus years as a songwriting hobbyist, Kelley is not a complete stranger to the New Jersey music scene. He is a longtime collaborator with singer-songwriter Christian Beach, spending time with him during the late 1980s and early 90s in a band that played the much-loved and long-gone Green Parrot Rock Club in Neptune, NJ, multiple times. Kelley has played keyboards, accordion and percussion in Beach's backing band since 2007, and has recorded with him as well. The project name is borrowed from the lyrics of “Cover My Eyes (Pain and Heaven)” by Marillion. The debut, five-song EP from Ferocious Designs, A Matter of Time, was released on July 16, 2021. That same day, the project’s debut single, “Lay It on the Line,” was named Makin Waves Song of the Week by longtime New Jersey music journalist Bob Makin. Looking for the Light, the debut album from Ferocious Designs, was released March 10, 2023.

 

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