imaginary break-ups

A few months back I tried to write an album in 30 days. It didn't happen, of course, but I did get several song ideas that have ended up working for summer.

Funny thing is, they are all wintery songs, and they're all about fading, troubled relationships. And though they are simple, 3 and 4 chord songs--I'm proud of them. I think the melodies are pretty strong, but mostly I'm proud of the stretch outside my own experience.

I'm a happily married man. But these songs--"My Last Mistake" "Old Psychosis," and "Don't Ask" (see below) are about people breaking up--or at least people who have encountered significant love-challenges. Tina and I are a normal couple--we have the occasional disagreement and even less occasional argument. I tried to take some of the feelings of those circumstances and put an exponent on them. The results were kind of sad songs (though "Old Psychosis" is actually more cynical and therefore kinda funny) about the prospect of going it alone.

When you listen to the song in this post and "My Last Mistake" of a few weeks ago try to think of the coldest February day you can summon up. You're in an empty house or a lonely cafe and you've just lost the love of your life.

Don't Ask from Only Anything on Vimeo.

For those of you with Vimeo problems, the video can be viewed on YouTube here.

I recorded this one in ONE take. Despite the few chord errors and words flubs, I decided to leave it. Tempo is also something that is in the air here--I tried to speed it up a bit, but maybe the tempo's a little too fast (I didn't want it to be a 6 minute song though). What do you think?

I should also say that when I first imagined these tunes, I was listening to a lot of Bon Iver.

Where all the stories go

Why do we love movies and books? because sometimes our lives are so boring or messed up or depressing that we need an easy temporary escape. That's the whole idea of this song, I was particularly thinking about books though. Most of my songs and most popular music aside from jazz has a straight eighth note pulse. There are many exceptions though, one that sticks out in my mind is "Lonely Place" by Goldfinger. It has that swung feel, some call it a shuffle. This song has that rhythm, I think it brings out the carefree feeling I'm going for. The recording is pretty loose, partly because I recorded it quickly and partly because my skills on the drums are not very precise. On all the tracks I used either the first or second take and I'm pretty happy with the end result. I have to be because summer is moving fast and with very limited recording time, I've got to make it productive.
Enjoy:
Stories
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