When we are home, we have a tendency not to write much in the tour journal since we’re not on tour. But I always forget that, for our fans and friends spread out over the country, every place is somewhere away from them.
Rowan recording percussion tracks for the new album in the studio in Catonsville, MD.
The biggest news has been recording the new CD. After a lot of recording that started in late-September/early October, we had to take a breather to do our various tours and get through the holidays. But we went back into the studio recently with a vengeance, completing almost all the tracking for all 14 songs by the time we were done. Sharif, away at Disney at that time, added bass tracks the other night while rob and I were in NC. And then there are a couple of songs that might get a special touch.
Rowan recording vocals for “Can You Love a Girl Gone So Long”.
The thing that fascinates me about recording in the studio is how songs you take for granted as good sometimes get blown out of the water by a dark-horse song you were proud of, but never expected to be great. For myself, I was particularly proud of what I like to call the Bill Withers’ remix version of “I Am the Wreckingball,” and figured that would be my favorite. But once we got into the studio and started working up, “Draw You In,” a song I wasn’t sure how it would find its way in the band format at all … I now think it’s one of the coolest things on the CD. I finally got the smiling, slightly breathy tone into the voice that needed to be there, and Rowan added a shaker percussion track that ebbs and flows with the song and makes the dynamic transitions more fluid.
Because of the monthly songwriting project at our open mic at Java Mammas, rob and I have been writing consistently and had more recent songs vying for position on the CD. When rob and I started playing the song I wrote for Sandstorm Love Affair, “Oklahoma Revival,” together as a duo, we knew it needed to see the CD.” Later, we also decided to add his sandstorm song, “Baliset.” “Rearview,” is also rob’s song from the “Disappearing Friends” night. So, it’s pretty cool that this CD will be so representative of the last six months of our songwriting project/open mic, as well.
rob listening to playback in the studio. Worrying about whether his guitar playing is good enough… ever-concerned about his voice. Stuff like that.
Another thing I’ve noticed is the diversity of the styles of the songs, something I really like. I wonder what listeners will think. It’s a songwriter’s album, I feel. Alternative rock on “Rearview,” Americana/Roots Rock on “Love A Girl,” Americana/Bluegrass on “Oklahoma Revival” and “Slight Departure,” 30s Kitsch/Cute on “Draw You In,” Alt-Country on “Phantom,” R&B on “Wreckingball,” percussive World Rock/Tribal/Neo-Folk on finally-full-band versions of “Hands,” “Loosen,” and “Protest Song,” Folk/Singer-songwriter on “Trouble,” “No Blue Left,” “Balisett,” a cover with “We Can Work it Out.” We probably touch on a few other genres along the way, as well. The songs are some of the most well-crafted and diverse we’ve ever done, and we also may finally have the kind of songs and the quality of production to pursue radio play more aggressively.
rob and Heather being stared at by art at the Soapbox Laundrolounge in Wilmington, NC.
We’ve been having discussions on what to call the album. We tend to employ a lot of water imagery, and here we are recording an album full of songs about the absence of water. Rob’s sandstorm song was about Dune, mine about the Dust Bowl. Hell, maybe that’s what we should call it: “Dust Bowl and Dune.” The description of rob and I: The Folkie and the Sci-Fi Fan. We’ve been investigating Dune references (which means we spent a night watching the big Sci-Fi channel version of Dune with pens at the ready).
It’s strange to be home and see messages about the band, as it was when I was the third member out with Dar’s tour, touring as before without me. We passed on the highway last night … me headed north and them south. But I wouldn’t have traded this weekend out in NC. Just strange to criss-cross the country with so many people just slightly out of reach.
