Slimming Down

We played a late show last night at Rockwood.  11pm on a Sunday.  You’re not going to get a lot of working stiffs out at that time.  Which was sort of the point.  I wanted to try some new songs, play with a different arrangement and see what happened, all without the pressure of having to deliver 80 people on a packed Thursday night. 

The band had slowly been growing in size.  We added a violin player, a percussionist, even a second guitarist for the last show at the Mercury Lounge.  14 people.  It’s a big production.  It’s expensive to do.  But, also, with so many people, it was feeling a little less magical and a little less organic.  After doing a much smaller show for Paul’s birthday, featuring just me, Matt Ray and Noah on guitar, I wanted to try something where there wasn’t as much pageantry and where we could really focus on organically making music.

The experiment was a success.

The band was me, Noah, Matt, Marc Dalio on drums and Paul singing backup.  That still sounds like a big band but it was small by our standards.  Felt much more like a band.  A bunch of like minded individuals.  It was easier to find a cohesion. A harmony.  A stomping and a rollicking and a good thing going.  I’d say the only drawback was that we played a bunch of new songs and those songs required me to play a lot of guitar and I’ve grown to not really love playing the guitar so much while I sing.  It’s better and I can really concentrate and I don’t screw up the rhythms. 

We played a bunch of new songs that have become finalists for the final tracklisting on Living at the Movies, whenever it finally gets recorded.  They’ll get tighter as we go but the energy was definitely there.  Some notes for those at home and the setlist:

1. Anywhere At All
One way I write is by turning down a song really low by another artist and then singing over it.  It’s strange.  At very low volumes the song shifts and my ears pick up different things and construct their own melody.  It’s not even the same chord changes necessarily. My brain just assembles something into something else and it becomes original. So this song was inspired by a Deerhunter song “Twilight at Carbon Lake”.   One of my favorite new songs.  Just a very natural flowing rolling chorus. 

2. A Difficult Equation
This is one of about three songs I wrote all in a row one afternoon at the old sublet.  The highlight of this tune is two-fold. The verse where Matt Ray wrote this very beautiful part originally on the glockenspiel.  Sounds like a Wilco song I think.  Forget which one.  Maybe Ashes of American Flags.  Then the bridge.  It’s weird.  Bridges are so obviously forced mechanisms.  But you realize why you need them when you’re building a song.  They’re necessary.  They’re an other that brings it back to the home.  Anyway, this bridge is very emotional and pure and real and I like it.

3. Sorry Ghost
A slow waltz about apologizing.  Started with the phrase “The best part of hell … is being dead”.  That’s dark I guess.  But it’s also kind of funny.  A touch of humor. 

4.  Missanthropy
Where we steal the refrain from the Digital Underground.  “Hey yo stop what you’re doin cuz I’m about to ruin” and we turn that into the chorus.  Some people like.  Others don’t.  But it gets us going. 

5. Dirty White Coats
We brought Katie up to play some parts.  Worked really well.  Emphasis on oboe for a moment without having the full-on shebang that we normally have.  We sped up the tempo into the tempo that I had originally written for it.  Always fun to play.  New life into the song.

6. There Is A Light
I wrote this song last year when my grandfather passed away.  A lot of people dig it.  Then on the other hand much of the imagery is pretty religious which surprises me because I’m not really that religious.  It could almost pass for a Christian song.  Given that I’m a Jew, it’s sort of strange.  But regardless it’s real to me.  I miss that man every day.  The line I like is thus: “There is a book etched in the age when all things are written.  And everything good goes on for long.”  Even if someone wasn’t rich or famous there is a catalogue of the kharma they created somewhere.  It counts to be a great person and a loving father and husband, no matter what else happens in this world.

7. Colorado Drugs (Slow)
No matter how much we tried to slow this down, the song comes out rocking and huge.  It was fun.  Noah did a great job on this tune.

8. Broken Bow
Old reliable.  Still best song I’ve ever written.  I’m starting to feel washed up I guess.

9. Vicodin
We were going to play something else but then I got embarrassed and then we ripped into Vicodin and it was great.

10. Oh My God
But then we ended up playing the other thing anyway.  This song may not ever be recorded but my guess is that it’s going to be a crowd pleaser for awhile.  Good times USA.

Bottom line is that we pulled a good one.  The band felt cohesive and tight and the whole thing came off as I’d hoped.  Those are the kinds of shows you want to do more of.

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