Ghosts

Again, I am amazed at my lack of attention to this little space here... Maybe I'm not amazed... (I guess that was a song title that McCartney didn't use) Almost every hour of every day seems to be promised to something... I'm not complaining.

A lot of it is good... This morning I was in the studio. We're mixing the new Paper Arrows album in less than three weeks, which is crazy... this project, just like the first PA record, seems to have just flown by. A lot of it is that we've again been able to get a lot of recording done in a very few hours of being in the studio.

A good example was last week... in four hours, I was able to knock out lead vocals for three songs as well as do a bunch of background vocals... unheard of production for me. Today, I sang one lead and then we listened back to everything we've done so far... suddenly, it sounded like an album.

We've got 8 tunes with the full band, and all are between 80 and 90 percent done... we spent another hour recording some acoustic guitar, filling in some spaces with textural parts... we made plans to record two acoustic tunes in the next week... quieter affairs with just guitar and vocals, and maybe a little spare piano. Not like the piano is a spare, but the playing is spare.

Anyway... my point is that... the record is basically done. I'm so impressed with how the collection of tunes came together, from the 25 or so we had to start, to these particular 9 or 10 that will comprise the final product. The sounds are miles above Look Alive... not that LA sounded bad... but whereas LA had this low-fi winter attic-vibe to it sonically (which suited the songs), the new record sounds bigger... sounds like it was tracked in studios, like it was recorded in the summer and fall... it sounds like a progression.

Lyrically, it is, to me, the most cohesive thing I've ever done. It's thematic without being repetitive (I hope)... it's mostly personal and direct but still complex... there are words, ideas, and images that recur and are connected but in each context mean something a little bit different...

Which is kind of the point of the record... it's like Magnolia Electric Company's What Comes After the Blues... it's about the process of recovery and claiming yourself again after loss... which I've come to understand as one of the most complex experiences you can have...

The hardest part of doing the record has been the vocals... Not hard technically... I've been very comfortable singing in the studio and my voice has grown in range and depth since Look Alive... the new songs are written with a vocal confidence that I'm very proud of, and Jay has again been an incredible producer in terms of pulling performances out of me that I didn't think I had.

The difficult part has been revisiting some of the lyrics... which were largely written during 2007 and early 2008, when I was in a much different place emotionally... Some of the lyrics are angry... and I've worked so hard to get rid of my anger, that going back to these words and emoting them... is exhausting and complex.

The song we tracked today, Explosions Below... I wrote the lyrics as a stream of consciousness type thing... I think I blogged about it last September... I was on a plane with Andrea coming back from L.A... and I just had this out of body writing experience where all sorts of feelings and thoughts and words I had been just holding below the surface for months... came out.

And I left almost everything about it intact... I built the song structure and the music around the lyrics. And I find it such a profound piece of work... not in an egotistical way, but more personally profound... like the conclusion I drew at the end of the writing of the lyrics... was actually the experience of me drawing that conclusion... I don't know if that makes any sense.

This was not a song that was intellectualized, like some are... written about like an object. This is a song where the process of writing and what is expressed in the song were literally simultaneous. Maybe other people write like this all the time. But for me, it was a revelation.

As gut wrenching as it was for me (and Andrea, I think) it ultimately left me (and us) healthier and better. I think I wrote these out before, but having just spent time singing them this morning... they are burning a hole in my brain so I'm going to type them out again and be done...

EXPLOSIONS BELOW Explosions below and still lingering dreams Of funerals and arguments and trying to breathe As water runs in from impossible seas Saying goodbye never leads where it seems to lead Burning my skin til it peels away And hoping the coast gives me something to say In the end it turned out I was borrowing days And I opened my eyes just a little too late It's drifting away It's fading to grey And I'm watching her go And I'm checking the phone And I'm waiting for love But it's not enough And I'm drying her eyes Like it means we'll survive Like it makes it okay That she's leaving today And taking her things But leaving her rings And I'm missing her laugh It's echoing out In the hollowed out rooms It's echoing loud And I'm sick of the ghosts And I'm tired of hope And I'm tired of tears So tired of tears I'm forgetting the days They're slipping away I'm letting them fade Into shadows and graves And thunder and rain And sunshine and planes And explosions below I'm hiding my face I'm trying to breathe I'm catching my breath I'm ready to leave I'm burning her name With my hand in the flame I'm turning the page of the last piece of love That she gave me The last thing that she gave me The last thing that she gave me The last thing that she gave me

jbg

101

I swear, I don't know where months go. Where have I been? Oh... right: ducking in and out of the studio and traipsing up and down (mostly down) highway 101, from nearly Canada to San Francisco... Tracing the route Ben and I took during our fateful hitchhiking escapade, some 10 years ago.

10 years ago.

Sometimes that trip seems like yesterday, sometimes it seems like forever ago. This time, instead of hitchhiking, Andrea and I had the services of a trusty Jeep Patriot. And instead of camping on Oregon beaches and in the California redwoods, we stayed in hotels... although two of the hotels were so close to the water, we fell asleep to the billion year old song of the waves crashing on rocks and sand.

The trip wrapped up with a 12 mile run in San Francisco, which was wonderful and really cemented the fact that I'm ready to do the Chicago Marathon a week from Sunday... I'm so much better prepared this year, and with a little help from the weather... it should be a lot of fun. Monday, we rose at 4:00 a.m., caught a 7:00 a.m. flight, landed in Chicago at 1:00 p.m., and were home by 3... after a couple of hours of downtime, I packed up my acoustic guitar and headed over to Schubas, where I got to play a solo acoustic opening set for the lovely and talented Gemma Hayes.

It was one of my favorite shows I've ever played. The crowd was incredibly attentive and I don't believe I've ever connected with my material quiet as well as I did. So... all that made it especially hard to get back into reality this week.

Luckily, I get to head into the studio tomorrow to cut vocals for the second Paper Arrows record. For all two of you regular readers, you may have noticed a lack of lyrics here recently... Well, it's by design. I've been kind of hoarding musical ideas, waiting to see what this new record turns into, before I really start writing the next one.

And I'd like to experiment more with writing an album in a confined time period, possibly in a different locale... maybe check into a quiet motel or cabin somewhere out of the way for a couple days, and put pen to paper.

Intriguing. So...

That's what I've got right now...

jbg

Tidbits

So... where have I been? Well, let me tell you...

Aside from moving into our new condo, trying to sell my building, and training for the Chicago marathon... we've been recording the new Paper Arrows record.

Good times.

Much more to write, and I promise I will soon.

Hugs.

jbg

Back in the Belly of the Beast

Indeed... 

The Paper Arrows project is back in the studio creating what should turn into a second full-length record... Which is exciting.

Whereas the last (first?) record was recorded in an attic in the winter, this one is being recorded in a studio in the summer.

Whereas the last record was quiet and close, this one already feels loud and wide.

Whereas the last record was about loss, this one is about recovery... is about putting yourself and heart back together after loss...

Whereas the last record was comprised of material written before and during the fall (although the material from before was frighteningly prescient, I'm coming to understand), this one will be comprised of material written during and after the fall... all of it over the course of about a year.

Whereas the last record started with 5 tunes and was augmented to 10, this one started with 26 tunes and has been diminished to 11...

Whereas I had no idea what to expect going into the recording of the last record, on this one... well, I think I know what to expect. Somewhat.

We started with two full days booked at I.V. Labs studios two weeks ago... Jay ran the sessions, and both days were dedicated to letting Darren run wild... that is, taking advantage of the fact that he can play almost any instrument more than capably.

First task for Darren was drum parts... I spent a couple hours with Jay laying down acoustic sketches of 9 of the 11 songs we decided to record. As we did for the last record, we decided to build the songs up around these sketches, which consist of just acoustic guitar and vocals. By the time I stopped in on the evening of the first day, Darren had already knocked out 5 full drum tracks. Which is bad ass.

Similar to Look Alive, hearing the first step away from the acoustic demos, the groundwork of adding the drums, is nothing short of exhilarating. On some of the tunes, Darren and Jay made decisions that I expected. On several others, the drums radically changed the approach and character of the songs... all for the better.

That, is the beauty of creating in the studio... the songs become fresh even to the person who wrote them. The second day, I had set aside to spend with the guys in the studio and watch them work/add my two cents... I believe I've waxed poetic about the studio before but I can't do justice to how awesome it is... like a laboratory.

And I.V. has such a great vibe to it... very comfortable and welcoming. By the time I arrived at about noon on the second day, Darren had already knocked out two more drum tracks. The decision was made that the four remaining songs would wind up having little or no drums, so we moved on to recording organ, keyboard, and harmonium. I even got to play a little bit of Wurlitzer on a song.

By the end of the second day, we were in great shape. All the drums were done, a lot of keyboards were done... despite having no guitar, no bass, and scratch vocals, the songs were already starting to sound like... well, songs. Like songs that mean something and need to be heard.

We discussed the next step, and settled on booking another full day at Gravity Studios to record acoustic piano and also to try to record one song, Til I Couldn't Cry No More, more or less live with a fuller ensemble.

We'll be lucky enough to be joined by my friends Anthony on stand-up bass (who played bass at the PA live shows) and Drew on piano (who played keys live). I'll play guitar, Jay will play mandolin, and Darren will play banjo. And we'll be going for an Appalachian/Hank Williams thing... all playing in a circle and recording live.

Then, we'll spend the rest of the day working on more piano and probably guitars. The final sessions will take place back at I.V. for more guitars, vocals, and whatever else we think the songs need. 

So... Good times. More soon.

jbg

New

Man...

Just too much going on here...

A new place to live, a new album...

New is the new old.

Or so I've heard...

 jbg