thursday night (october 6, 2016) marks the official cd-release party for “up, up, and away.” i will be performing the entire album live, accompanying the feature length film i made, at the historic Grand Illusion cinema in north Seattle (7pm).
“up, up, and away” is an old-fashioned concept album that describes the experience of a manic episode i endured back in 1999, a side effect of anti-depressants. read more >
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this week i’m wearing my influences on my sleeve. i started out with the beatles-esque chorus, which came to me while walking the dog one morning last week. read more >
an early 70s prozac vocal as the main character wrestles with some difficult insights and an attempt at feeling.
not entirely certain what he thinks he “should” do. my guess is that a few drinks will undo the softness…
a similar theme to last week’s entry. preparation for some kind of a journey, though not sure whether it is an inner or outer journey. a tidying up before moving on, perhaps.
with the first few, i’m not setting a high bar, just want to get back in the habit of having an unfinished tune in my head all week. ultimately i have a pair of musicals i want to create songs for. but first, some stretching and warming up.
i’ve had this idea for a few months, though i had pictured it all in front of a tree in the middle of some park. when it came down to it, the mechanics of doing this outside were prohibitive and pushed me in another direction. it was only after i had successfully cloned myself that i considered putting us on a bedside table.
this is one of the monday songs i am most proud of. i just love the harmonies, all of which were improvised in the original recording, until i had parts that worked. when you listen to the song alone, the harmonies make a sweet backdrop, but i felt that showing the parts being sung leant a behind the scenes quality, and made each part distinct to the listener. by placing each version of myself in the same place that the voice falls in the stereo spread, you get a cool experience in headphones.
i like the low fidelity look, which is a important, since lo-fi is the best i can do, and i can only get there through many hours of cutting and pasting and syncing and throwing the occasional temper tantrum.
as i consider the next steps in my career, i’ve been considering starting a lullaby service, though i confess i’m not entirely sure what that entails. i have written many songs in this vein, and it would be a cool project to pull them together, and share the soothing vibes with frazzled moms who need some kid music that won’t drive them nuts. i could even write new lyrics for some of the darker tunes, creating sleep-friendly versions that currently read more like nightmares. it’s that kind of capitalistic thinking that really gets my creativity pumping…
it’s been forever since i’ve done a straight ahead music hall number, and since i’m winding things down, thought it would be fun to revisit the style. read more >
