saturday, march 21, 2009: done

it was a pretty big moment for me when i found the fedex package containing the final master of 'heart broken open' lying on my doorstep last week. there it was, the culmination of all this time and careful effort, wrapped up in a typical little white mailer bag, scuffed a bit from its trip through the postal system.

as i listened through, it slowly started to dawn on me that it was done. the record i set out to make several years ago – with little idea, then, how i would do it – was actually done. it hit me.

now, of course, with one task accomplished, another begins: getting it out and letting people know about it. thom and i are working on getting all that together, now, and as soon as it's available for you to check out, i will certainly shout the announcement from the virtual rooftops.

monday, january 19, 2009: last dash for home

we gave the 'heart broken open' mixes their final approval this weekend and sent them off to garrett haines at treelady studios in turtle creek, pa to be mastered. this is the last phase of post-production on the music end of things. meanwhile, kate and i have been wrapping up the artwork/layout for the liner notes.

we really are in the home stretch now.

tuesday, november 25, 2008: last song has been mixed

on sunday, we mixed 'world weary love,' the last song for the new record. it was a marathon day – weekend, really – as thom and i started friday night performing last-minute emergency surgery on the tracks, replacing certain parts and doing extensive editing, before bringing everything to daniel early sunday afternoon. daniel took it from there, bringing his brilliance to the task, and by 1:30 am Monday morning, we had a completely mixed record on our hands.

during the next few weeks, we'll make some revisions to the mixes, then send everything out to be mastered. in the meantime, i'm turning my attention back to the artwork for the album, working with kate on developing some new imagery to accompany the songs and to use in the promotional effort.

we're very close now...

october 21, 2008: long overdue album update

it's been quite a long time since i said anything about the progress of the new record, heart broken open. it isn't that nothing's been happening during the past year since i last gave an update. but a lot of it hasn't been obvious - a lot of it has been internal. in fact, i would describe this whole process as a long, slow burn, filled with long stretches of silent think/feel/plan punctuated by moments of action and execution in the studio. while that's caused the production schedule to stretch out quite a lot further than i hoped, i think it's meant that a lot more life has seeped it's way into this music. rather than being something that i stepped outside of my life to do, as in some kind of laboratory, making this record has become a part of my everyday and has absorbed so much of what i've been living. things happened that i could not have planned or even imagined from the outset - events, moments, connections, revelations, visions and revisions that became a part of this process and found their way into the heart of this music. and now that i really am nearing the end of this particular road, i am looking back on it all and really taking it all in, all that i and those that have been with me during this process have done and been through. it's been pretty intense, really. and i feel a sense of gratitude for this experience and for the commitment of my team who have given so much of themselves to this project alongside me. this has truly been a labor of love.

so, where exactly are we in the process? well, we started mixing the songs in august with daniel goodwin at the isokon in woodstock, ny. and that became a process that has stretched over the last couple months, leading up to this past weekend when we finished all but one of the songs. it just so happens that this last song is the longest and - perhaps - most complicated song on the record, clocking in at 6 minutes and containing something like 50 separate tracks. so, we do still have a bit of work ahead of us before this album is fully mixed and ready for mastering. but the end really is in sight, now, and it has me feeling excited.

so, what's next? well, once this last song is mixed and we make any revisions, the whole thing goes out for mastering, then duplication...then i announce the official release date and (hopefully!) you get a copy and give it a listen.

soon. soon. soon.

november 20, 2007: album progress

it's been a while since i last gave an update on the progress of the new record, and much has happened in that time. while we have gotten a lot done, as the holiday season approaches, it's looking unlikely that this record will be done by year's end, as i'd originally hoped. more likely it'll come by spring. that's fine by me, though. i want the winter to go deeper into this one, anyway.

since those guitar sessions with clayton back in july, there have been developments on a few fronts. thom and i spent a weekend in august laying in most of the bass guitar tracks and some acoustic guitar at off the beat-n-track. all of the songs that will have bass now have it, though we're doing a rethink on the production of empty chair, and so we'll have to redo the bass on that one.

it looks like the bass line that i had recorded at home for secrets a couple years back will make it through to the final mix. i had always thought i'd replace that one, but it just seems to fit. i got kind of an odd tone from my fretted bass that day; it sounds big and round, like a fretless, and it really works for that song. so it's going to stay, i think. secrets was also thickened with drum set by jay and an electric guitar part from clayton.

during that weekend in august when we did the bass tracks, thom and i also played a live show together at the dreamaway lodge in becket, ma. while we were rehearsing the set, thom created an organ part for before us which really stopped me in my tracks. it was quiet but very powerful, and has since been added to the guitars and vocals we recorded for that one last year. the tracking for that song may very well be finished now, and it may be the first one ready for final mix.

david nagler composed a beautiful string trio part for the unknown, which we recorded with violinist/violist eric martin and cellist anne legene earlier this month at off the beat-n-track. david was also there that day to conduct the players, and i feel that we captured something really moving that day. before leaving, eric also improv'd some lovely solo violin over the guitars for gone.

jemal wade hines returned from a tour with his band hu dost last month in time to lay in some guitar atmospherics and solos for fear in the air, lost and profound and worldweary/love of our lives. he's given me a lot of good material to work with, crunchy chords and eerie tones, which we'll blend into the mix along with other things we've already recorded for those songs. what really left me jaw-dropped was the ebow part he added to the song love of our lives, which will close the record. the part soars.

i've begun what will be regular trips down to new jersey to work with thom at his home studio creating synth parts for many of the songs. we started a few weeks ago with empty chair, pretty much totally dismantling the tracking we'd already done for that song. in the end, we decided that it was the lead electric guitar part that really worked, while the rest just didn't quite gel. so, we stripped away everything but that guitar and started building it up again, using that part as the foundation. what's coming now is a much more electronic version with a piano part handling the main chordal underpinning, rather than the rhythm guitar, as before. it's feeling much truer and more sonically interesting to me. and that's got me feeling excited about this task that thom and i are undertaking. this weekend, we worked on a similar rebuild, this time for long long time. again, it looks like that one is going to be reimagined as a piano song instead of the guitar/bass/drums arrangement i first attempted. we also created a textural part for that with a mellotron sound and a snow-crunch drum effect. what's come so far is slow and sad and very atmospheric. it has definitely heightened the emotional impact of that song.

going forward, we'll most likely be doing more adding of synths and electronics to established tracks rather than rebuilding from scratch. but either way, it's clear that this phase of the project is having a huge effect on the overall sound of the record. it's very inspiring to see it grow and evolve...



july 17, 2007: album update

spent the last two nights in the studio with clayton colwell as he set down electric guitar parts for six of the songs. clayton is just a fabulous player and a great guy to work with, and it was a really productive couple of sessions. as i listen now to these songs, i hear so many new colors, textures and moods emerging. it's very, very cool to see them take shape like this. it also gets me itching to get back in and keep working. as the songs get closer to completion, i hear more that has to be done to them, more that's demanding my attention, things that need to be fixed, changed, nudged, tweaked ... gah! i just have to let go a little, i suppose. it takes the time it takes.

in other news, i've been working with an artist named kate smith on the visuals for the album. we've been working together on photos, liner design and a storyboard for a video for "secrets." this collaboration has been so inspiring and effortless. to me, kate's images are beautiful and true and just feel right. more to come on that front...



june 7, 2007: the latest

guitars have been laid down on some of the songs for the new album. justin hillman was in a couple weeks back to play beautiful fingerpicking acoustic guitar for the song "homeless." justin's playing is precise and soulful; just love it. hoping to get him in to lay down the acoustic track for two other songs within the next week or so.

over memorial day weekend, jay loughlin was up to play electric guitar and slide guitar on a few of the songs. jay just brought it the whole weekend and played things that really got me in the gut. the emotion definitely came through; the heart continues to grow up and out of these songs. and i'm so excited to see this growth happening.

in other news, thom has begun sketching out ideas for synths and sequences, and i'm really looking forward to hearing his initial roughs. soon.



may 3, 2007: roots and drums

during this past weekend's drum sessions, we set down the roots for the record, creating drum parts for nine of the songs.

thom soriano was on hand to lay down some bass lines while i played reference acoustic guitar and squawked out some raw vocal parts. it was very cool to have thom on hand with his "studio sneer," a.k.a, his look of intense concentration. i started crafting songs with thom something like 17 years ago, so it was a return to roots to have thom there with me.

so, needless to say, the weekend was extremely inspiring. now, i'm looking ahead to the next step: getting justin hillman in to play some fingerpicking guitar, which will be the basis for three other songs that are not drum-driven. that should be happening sometime in the next week ...



march 29, 2007: like a thousand drums, it comes

i've begun rehearsals with the drummers that'll be playing on the new record, jason schultheis and ryan nur habib tiven. building beats for these songs is infusing them with new life. for me, drums have a way of driving the song deeper, past the intellect, into a more primal place. maybe it's because i'm the son and brother of drummers who made the house shake beneath me as i was growing up. it was a constant reminder that no matter how safe and secure - how at home - i may have believed myself to be, a deeper vibration could always rattle my core.

the drum sessions have been scheduled for the last weekend in april. soon.



february 20, 2007: session with luthea salom

i went down to new york this past weekend to do a quick recording session for the new album at jay loughlin's place. we captured luthea salom singing the third verse of the song "secrets." i felt so moved and honored to have luthea singing on this tune. i love her voice, love her spirit. she's gutsy, open, honest. and having this moment of collaboration with her really stirred up a fire in the belly. and i needed that.

what's next? i never really know...but ready or not, here it comes.



october 11, 2006: concert in honor of daniel pearl

on sunday, i took part in an in-the-round concert hosted by todd mack. the event was a tribute to todd's friend daniel pearl, the wall street journal reporter and musician who was killed by terrorists in pakistan in 2002.

i didn't know daniel, but i remember seeing his photograph on tv then, and i remember feeling so affected by the presence he projected and by the terrible circumstances he'd been dragged into. it seemed to me that a bright life was being snuffed out for the sake of someone's lifeless ideology.

i've since come to learn about daniel from his friends, from the musicians he played with and some of the people whose life he touched. the thing that stands out the most to me of all the things that are said about him is the dedication he felt to creating dialogue among people, to tell the story, to speak out through the disconnect.

on sunday, we musicians and songwriters gathered to make a noise of our own, as if to show we still had hope that something could be said or sung that would somehow cut through the heartbreaking disconnect that's rampant in this world. i wrote a song especially for the occasion, called the unknown, which will appear on the forthcoming album.

though our ideologies might not resolve, though we've done harm to one another, though we continue to fear and fight the unknown, though we often feel so alone and afraid in this vast universe, we don't have to let these things turn to violence. in spite of all this, there is still a simple, common humanity that connects us.

god, we have to talk to each other.



march 24, 2006: wreckording

my first experiences making music in a recording studio happened when i was in high school. my friend, thom soriano, had taken on an internship at a nearby studio, and some nights, we'd go over there, let ourselves in and proceed to make musical mayhem into the wee hours. it was late. it was a "school night." but bleary-eyed as i would be the next day, that rough mix listen on the car's tape deck during the ride home more than made up for the sleep deprivation (and consequent dropping grade point average).

thom and i formed a band called magrathean snow a few years later; it was a brief but very meaningful moment in my musical life. then, we went our separate ways. i'm so happy to say that i will be working with thom again during my upcoming recording project. after the initial tracking is done, thom will add his unique brand of sonic atmospherics to the mix. i'm really looking forward to being behind the board, making music with thom again.



march 10, 2006: new album in the works

well, it's about to begin. the last time i went into the studio to make a record was almost exactly seven years ago, with my previous band seedensol. since then, i've recorded an album again and again in my mind and on paper. i've written a bunch of material and made lots of demos at home. i've plotted, planned, put aside, pulled it off the shelf...waited. at last, it seems this record that's lived inside me for so long is about to become realized.

in seven years, a lot's happened, and so, i've written a lot. but i've been working lately on narrowing down the list of songs that will be included, revising lyrics and arrangements of exisiting songs and even writing a few entirely new songs..which just seem important to write and include right now.

the first phase of the project will take place at todd mack's off the beat-n-track studio in southfield, ma. it looks like my good friend and all-around stellar musician jason loughlin (who was such a big part of the seedensol record) will be doing some guitar work on this one. i'm still working on nailing down the rest of the band.

but i'm so thrilled (and a little bit nervous) to be on track and so close to beginning this project, which has been on my mind and heart for a long time. so much is happening now. i feel...awake. finally.