February 17, 2008

Laughing at Myself

I spent a good part of the end of my session today laughing at the stuff I was coming up with.  On one of the earlier-ly conceived songs, tentatively “Threadbare”, I ended up writing a few ridiculous lines — lines and meters I’d never messed with before.  Not sure if I will have the guts to include the song or even finish it at this point, but I wondered if I sounded ridiculous laughing between each take.  I swear you can hear me smiling during the line prior to the ridiculous line.  Anyway, a fairly productive day, nonetheless.  Quite a bit of “bass”-work.  

Excerpt from an email to Chris Wienk at WEXT ::

“Quite an excellent show I must say… what a talented bunch of young men.  Our seats were absolutely perfect (two rows back, slightly left, directly in front of Thile….).  The night’s two sets were comprised with (mostly) songs from last year’s “How to Grow a Woman From the Ground” and next week’s “Punch”. They performed “The Blind Leaving the Blind” suite in its entirety during the first set, along with a mix and mash of shorter tunes from the records in the second set. Highlights (for me) included “The Beekeeper” and “Bailey/I Know You Know” (which I believe is unreleased from the “Punch” sessions?). The four part suite was intense, in fact, perhaps too intense for me even having grown up with classical music all around and having witnessed my share of through composed long form pieces.  At times I wondered what the goal was and I often wondered if the piece was there just because they COULD play it effortlessly and flawlessly…?

Anyway the talent and showmanship yielded some NASTY ensemble playing.  The interplay between all five instruments was constantly varied and textured. It was interesting to note that there were no long, drawn out solos from any band members.  Each “solo” was no longer than one chorus — sometimes even just four bars long - but each player took each opportunity to slay in those short moments.  Excellent.”  

That was my last chance for inspiration as I head into the final week of recording!!