I got the bear!

Had a really good session recording vocals yesterday.

Got two songs done in one day for the first time, and they were songs I figured would be pretty tough. The first song, Revenant, has developed into a big rock tune, with huge guitars, nice textures from the violins, and a driving rhythm section. It's also got an extended guitar solo at the end that I really enjoy. I thought it was important to have strong, energetic, well-sung vocals on this type of tune, so we started off by running through it a few times to warm up. After 3 times through, we got down to piecing it together verse by verse, chorus by chorus. Something was weird in my headphones, and I thought we were getting dangerously close to having another unproductive day, especially because I was struggling with the bridge of the song, which is the emotional climax and really deserves a special vocal take. 

Right as I was about to get really frustrated and take a break, I took one final shot and got it all in one continuous take. Very cool. Sensing the tide had turned, Dave and I immediately took another hack at Fallout Grace, my arch nemesis from last Thursday.

I managed to knock the first verse and chorus out in one take with what might turn out to be some of my favorite singing ever. Really delicate, deeply felt, and perfectly flawed. The rest of tune came surprisingly quickly. I could feel that my voice was in the perfect place for this song, and what we wound up with is something really really special.

It was interesting doing these particular two tunes on one day.

Revenant is a tune from early to middle 2004. I got the name from the elevator in the Prudential Building. Actually, from a videoscreen in the elevator in the Prudential Building. They installed these videoscreens a few years back. Apparently, people just can't be unstimulated for the 30 seconds it takes to ride the elevator, so now we get news, weather, sports, and the occasional "Word of The Day." One of these words was Revenant, which means "one that returns after death or a long absence." I had never heard this word before, but I really liked the way it sounded and what it meant.

So it became the following song:

REVENANT I wish I had a sea to sink into Pressed in the water's silver depths I'd spend the day in the ocean blue And watch over you while you slept But now I'm stuck here in the concrete Miles and miles from the coast You can't touch what you can't see And I'm left holding a ghost Isn't this the end? I thought this was the end I've broken all the mirrors but you keep coming back again Coming back again It's only rain, they're only tears The burning days fall into years I sit and wait for the spirits to appear The time is drawing near But isn't this the end I thought this was the end I've broken all the mirrors but you keep coming back again I keep opening the door You keep opening my eyes To what I haven't felt before I'm asking for some time I'm asking for a sign It's only time after all It's only time after all

There are a lot of my crutches (water, time, etc.) in these lyrics, but I still like them a lot. They have a sense of yearning that really conveys how I was feeling when I wrote them. They're direct, but still fairly poetic.

The song Fallout Grace, on the other hand, is kind of a mystery to me. It was one of the last written for the album. I know what moments inspired the song, but I'm not completely sure what it's about. Which is okay, because I feel like part of what's great about the vocals we got recorded is that they capture some of that uncertainty, some of that process of me figuring out what I'm singing about, what the song means.

Which is ongoing.

This song has kind of taken on the role of "everybody's favorite" for the last few shows, and we've been closing with it. And the recording is really powerful. All the playing and the arrangement are just completely dedicated to the song, and it builds perfectly from a whisper to a storm. It's like a three minute epic.

FALLOUT GRACE On the edge of town The planes fly overhead There's no one around The sky is burning red Don't go, don't go Beneath the fossil light The radio bleeds clear The sound of growing night The heartache reminds us that we're here Don't go, don't go It seems like fallout grace From this beautiful mistake And from this beautiful mistake comes... The one... Comes... That moment on the road When we let the darkness sing And then turn down the sound And see what the silence brings Don't go, don't go Don't go, don't go

jbg