Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
In a Bellow Mood
I’ve been reading a lot of Saul Bellow recently. A few years ago I’d read “Henderson the Rain King”. This year, I’ve read “Augie March”, “Humboldt’s Gift” and “Herzog”. I may need to read his biography to more fully hold court on this issue, but, particularly with the last two books, it seems clear that what Bellow does much of the time is essentially proximate to biography. That’s, of course, true for many writers and he’s not the first nor will he be the last to lift people from real life and plop them into a “novel”. But he employs a more obvious and literal method . I suspect of the books I’ve read “Augie” is the most novelistic, the most fictional. But still, you see recurring figures and themes in the Bellow that I’ve read.
Notably:
The male protagonist is an older, Jewish guy, typically a writer, typically working his way through a variety of affairs and marriages, typically self-aware but also misogynistic in his own weird way, typically a devout and accomplished narcissist, typically obsessed with sex.
Then there are the women involved. These seem to be actual women that he’s been either married to or slept with. For example, the ex-wife figures in his books seem to pretty closely hew to his real ex-wives. And, by the details and the authenticity of the affair, I imagine there is a woman very closely resembling Sono, in Herzog.
Then there is always a series of older brothers, the most prominent of which is very wealthy, a hard-nosed realist, able to make money easily, looking somewhat skeptically but also with grudging acceptance at his literary, “dreamy” younger brother.
Then there are special figures that come from the real world. Delmore Schwartz is Humboldt. Jack Ludwig is Valentine Gersbach. Etc.
So what’s my point? It is that I am actually really enjoying the way that you can read a Bellow novel and understand where he was in that point in his life. That these novels, more than just stories, are snapshots of a thoughtful, flawed, and admittedly dreamy artist making his way through the world and that, while fictionalizing certain components of the book, retain an authenticity and a reality that can be both uncomfortable and exhirating.
I write all of this on the metaphorical eve of a new record coming out, one that, like Bellow, uses real events and circumstances to tell an allegorical story about pain, redemption, and growth. And now I’m at work on a new batch of songs that are also borrowing liberally from my current experience but that probably won’t see the fully realized light of day until the Fall of 2010.
In the past I’ve faulted myself for not fictionalizing enough, or I’ve intentionally fictionalized after the fact to strike some kind of pose (e.g. turning “Honey Eyes” from a song about my wife into a song about a runaway girl). But maybe as I grow, I can use song cycles to document real observations and real insights that I have over time rather than attempting to craft a fictional rock-n-roll narrative that is simplistic, cliche and besides the point.
This seems exciting because then albums become time capsules even moreso than usual and, hopefully with the ways and the means, I can look back at a collection of 15-20 albums over a period of 40-50 years and use these musical reference points as the waypoints of my life. Perhaps cheesy and saccharine, but also true and authentic. Just something to think about.
The Stopping of the Song
Figuring out the stopping point in the song is the hardest part of building them, in my experience. Songs are like lego blocks generally. You probably need two of them to make one. Sometimes they have many more parts. Figuring out where to make that distinction is the difficulty. I typically start with a thing that ends up being the chorus. It’s a phrase with a bit of melody in it against a chord progression. But even then it’s unclear.
Right now I have dozens of song ideas that have sprung up over the past few weeks. And I think I understand where to stop and where to start them but not really. There’s one tune called “Bad Times” and I’ve got a bridge in there but the verse progression is the same as the chorus progression. That actually works out pretty well sometimes. If the song is kind of a flowy-thing or if it just feels right. And I think I need the bridge (or at least to hold the B chord awhile) to create some tension to head back into a final chorus part but, again, I’m never sure if it’s too little or too much.
I’m just remembering a story that the song “The Chain” started out as a bridge that they wrote to a different song but then it became its own thing. And that’s how it goes sometimes. Figuring out which pieces to pull apart and which to leave in. Sometimes it needs to be just verse-chorus-verse-chorus and that can be that. There’s a lot to be said for brevity. We did that with “Life Is Hard” and I’m digging how it’s sounding.
But sometimes something more is needed and that’s the difficult part. What makes it perhaps more difficult is that I’m working these out on an acoustic by myself and I’m not much of a guitarist. So the melodic elements come from the vocal line. Constructing them with a band tends to add a lot as people layer in their different interpretations. But, for example, I don’t tend to write tunes from a riff. So I’d never have come up with “Satisfaction” on my own. I’m forced to resort to structural measures in the early stages of the song to give it its flavor and then let the vocal emphasis shape the interpretation by other players.
Perhaps my favorite trick is to keep playing the chorus progression but discover different melodic components and layer those in as an outro once the song begins to fade. I did that with “Clear the Brush” off the first record and it’s the best part of the song, the little part where I sing “run far away”. It works perhaps most effectively on the new record with the song “Hold My Heartache” when Amber and I sing our “oohs” and Matt’s piano creates this achingly beautiful piano motif and then the Stan’s sax bubbles like this wistful Lou dream of Lou Reed. Honestly, I’m humble and all, and I give all credit to Paul for producing, but that’s a great fcking song.
Licensing, Songwriting, Art Creation
Jon Pareles, for the NY Times, argues convincingly that, as licensing opportunities become the last bastion of truly viable monetization opportunities, the “art” of writing a song shifts and becomes more commercially oriented. Really, he’s articulating a depressing truth.
Apparently there’s no going back, structurally, to paying musicians to record music for its own sake.
Musicians need to eat and they want to be heard. Pretty simple. Rather than suggest to listeners that they enjoy music without marketing tie-ins, today’s over-30 music critics should accept the realities of today’s marketplace. Marketing and advertising do not equal selling out.
To the point of the first quote, I read Pareles’ article as less about “selling out” and more about the demise of the traditional music industry in the first place. That’s what I see happening.
Blogging Is The New Gym Membership
I suspect that this year blogging is the new gym membership. Many resolutions will be made. Many vows committed to better blogging habits, more posting, more regular posting, more thoughtful posting, etc. Many people will be taking these vows and making these promises. And sometime around the middle of February their blogs will peter out and we’ll return to the status quo: a post every couple of months talking about how they haven’t been posting but they’re resolute on getting back to it.
And, of course, I’m no different. So over the next few weeks, as cliche as it may be, I’ll be attempting to resume some kind of normal posting schedule. There’s lots to talk about of course. Much of it related to the new album that we’re releasing this Spring, the press and radio campaign we’ll be doing around, the big show we’ll be playing in April, and, of course, the writing and recording of a whole new batch of songs that have been sprouting up over the past few months and weeks. If you’re out there, stay tuned. We think, hope, feel, believe, turn it over to, trust that: things are about get interesting.
Until the middle of February. At which point, we’ll all go back to sleep.
Charlotte wishes you a Happy New Year
At least, I think that’s what’s going on in her head.
"Happy New Year!"
Happy Holidays
Hap Tip to Andrew Sullivan for this one. This kid is friggin adorable. And Paul’s melody shines through no matter what.
