Baltimore, MD
We’re sitting in the studios of Peabody Conservatory whirling back and forth between control stations, digital work stations, command panels and rack mounts. Scott Bergstrom seems excited to work with us and ideas are pouring out him – telling Rowan to play another part, using a mix of percussion terms and the parlance of us – he wants a flam and a bah bah badddddd and more of a snare sound, like a little more drum core and then a boo booh PAAHHHHH, you know? A heavy metal version of rearview is slowly evolving, dramatically different from our original treatment and a completely different animal from the White Rose Confession version. I think, despite my initial reservations, that I’m going to Love it.
Heather’s in the room now, knocking out a steady, controlled version of Phantom – a song that’s got such passion and variance to it that I’m a little bit worried about what a click track will do to it – and yet I can hear the passion rising inside of it. Scott’s got a gorgeous Sony rackmount reverb on her new Martin, shimmering elegantly, giving it an exquisite space. There’s intimacy and yet room to breathe. A very, very nice touch.
The biggest frustration has been the click track. Heather and I both are very …..organic
[Heather is weighing in to say how she hates that word] players….? Let’s use the term “organic”. ilyAIMY as a whole is a case of getting to the end of a song with everyone following one another, reaching the end of the journey thinking that Rowan was pushing the rhythm, realizing that he was following Heather, who was following me, while I was entirely paying attention to Sharif. Who wasn’t even playing. He was eating cake.Damn. Now I want cake.
