October Newsletter

The first week of September we spent at Temple of the Trees, the studio where the rest of the album was recorded. The dim, slightly funereal look of the studio had become a homey environment in the process. A big wooden door, repurposed from an old church, stands at the entrance to the studio; at the end of the day, or on a break, we would swing it open and be blinded by the sun or clouds of Seattle sky. The daily commute felt a bit like going back to school - I got used to packing a lunch. We plowed through the remaining overdubs of guitar, piano, organ, wurlitzer, and cymbal hits that filled in some of the last missing pieces of the album.

Then we returned to mixing. In August John had been coming up to my house; now it was mostly me driving down to Tacoma to mix at his house. Their small dog, Princess PB, did not take kindly to strangers, though by the final day of mixing, she only barked at me once or twice as I came through the door. I’ve taken to wearing overalls on my work days, and their bathroom was small enough that I always had some trouble pulling them down when there was a need to.

We hammered the mixes into the ground, day by day. In spite of the crunch, the multitude of tracks on each song, and our desire for perfection, things never got too stressed, as we could see the album slowly coming together. When we sent it out to other ears for revisions a week ago, I was forced to make a strange emotional switch, turning my heart away from the album so I was capable of receiving criticism and making the changes that seemed beneficial, point by point. Our early listeners submitted some very helpful points of potential improvement. Some were accepted, some rejected; all were appreciated. I told my manager, as some sort of verbal commitment to myself, that I planned as staying as far away from all reviews and online talk of the album as possible. It’s typical for any positive mention to get passed along an email thread, but I just don’t want that to be a part of my job that I expect. My goal, as I told one early listener and friend, is to live the Johnny Appleseed life, planting the seeds and moving on to fresh soil without a backward glance. I know I get far more meaningful satisfaction in engaging with a day’s work than in receiving praise for last year’s work. Still, it’s hard not to chase after it when it’s scented.

In any case, work on making this album is, as far as I know, done, with files waiting to be mastered in the following weeks. I’m suddenly spending my days tidying up the house, recharging the car at the park and taking long walks around, and chewing on silence with alternating feelings of gratitude and impatience. I’m excited to share it, but alas, gone are the days when the last day of mixing was Bandcamp release day…

Attached is a little teaser for you, instead. The album runtime, and lengths of all 9 songs…including our longest ever (I think). Coming to you next year!