Sunday, October 23, 2011

In the Stu stu studio

Very exciting news....

We've gotten the band in the studio.

The first song is done & you can hear it on our fanpage -- www.facebook.com/thePleasePleaseMe.
(Existing fans must click the "R" Bandpage tab. New folks must click "like" to access the tune.)

But here in blog-land, I'm gonna take you a bit into how the studio of being in a process works.

The tune we started with is...
There Must Be Something I Been Dreamin'

It's an ode to living a life when you feel like you're underwater, you're there but not there, you see/feel that thing around you but it's just out of reach.

For me, for many of you reading no doubt, this was about having a creative vision, but being trapped in a job, a box, a world where that painting, song, show, life you crave might as well be on Mars.

For the longest time, this song existed as a chant, a feeling, the ah ah melody you hear at the beginning, but I couldn't put words to it.

This spring, I went into the hole w/ Mark Addison to start seeing what we could do with it. Mark plays bass, keys, guitar -- like a maniac -- & makes a mean drum loop. With me singing, playing guitar & them drums over the programmed beats, we started building a framework one sound at a time.... we could almost create a whole track.

Almost.

It ain't magic - it ain't ready - it ain't seeing the light of day without my secret wea
pons, Alissa Schram on cello & piano and Dave Gironda on trumpet & bells.

The result is a menagerie of horn 'n cello duets, harmonies which fall somewhere between Edward Sharpe, Fleet Foxes, Mazzy Star.



Some photos & video for you. I can't describe the feeling of sitting back and watch Mark, Alissa & Dave hum, sculpt, mess around, stack triads, build harmonies 'til what was a pretty good song started soaring. It's like taking a mountain and making it into a volcano.

Here they are layering a piano, bellos & voices onto the bridge. To those of you music lovers who haven't ever been part of the recording process, it's wild. Put on your headphones and enjoy the ride.

Reminder: you can hear the finished recording of There Must Be Something I Been Dreamin' at www.facebook.com/thePleasePleaseMe. Just be sure to click on the BandPage tab.



We'll be giving you many more chances to glimpse into the making of this music. Soon, we're launching a Kickstarter campaign to get together the money to finish these songs. The result will be 2 ep's called
Turn it ON, Turn it OFF. Please stay w/ us for the ride.

ps-- If you don't know Mark Addison, he's a fixture here in Austin. He's recorded & produced the Band of Heathens, Matt the Electrician, Patrice Pike, Freedy Johnston, Jess Klein and mo'.

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