I just pushed submit on our first single from our first studio album (or rather, home-studio album).
As excited as I am, I know how much can happen in two weeks and I know that excitement fades a fair bit by the time it passes through all the bureaucracy.
In order to pass the time (of course I’ll be busy with a show and mixing other songs too), I thought it’d be a good chance to do a deep dive on the songs from my live album, partly because after this single comes out the focus will be on promoting that and other new songs as they come out.
The cycle of the live album is over almost before it began 😢. I want to give “Resonance Experiments 1-2” a little love so it doesn’t go completely forgotten, so that maybe a few ears that hadn’t heard it will, and so that anyone who was curious can learn about what inspired it.
I’ll feature a different song each post and give some context and behind the scenes.
Track 1 The Dig
This album was recorded during two concerts which were themed around getting out of my comfort zone and playing with the concept of a live performance.
I invited the audience to do things they have probably never done at a live performance and also pushed myself to do things that I had never done before.
It wasn’t anything fantastic or weird, just tiny adjustments to what we are used to, and new challenges for me.
Depending on what kind of music you like, you may have seen many musicians jam live before, but it’s something I’ve never done on stage. It takes a hell of a lot more skill than jamming at home where no one is watching, and if you aren’t used to it, it can be an incredibly ambitious challenge to overcome.
One of the big challenges for me to overcome was just that, jamming on stage.
The Dig was the start of the first of two shows. It took some friends by surprise because they didn’t know I’d be jamming. It’s quite rare to see slow solo jams by someone known for folk music.
Some jams have a rough melody that you prepare before hand and then you end play with it in all kinds of unpredictable ways, but this jam was just a melody that I happened upon after picking up the guitar.
I didn’t want to half ass the challenge so I jumped right into the deep end.
This is incredibly risky for someone not used to it, if you mess up, you’ve essentially started a race by spinning out and you have a lot of catching up to do.
You probably notice I actually did mess up, my looper has been glitchy recently and instead of looping, it suddenly killed the loop until I pressed it again. Everyone laughed because what you don’t see if my pantomime battle with my equipment.
I decided to keep that in the recording. I could have easily cut it out and started the song after that but I thought sharing the show exactly as it was important. I don’t like the idea of perfect shows without mistakes. I like surprises, even mistakes as long as they don’t happen during the peak of a song while everyone is really getting into it. Some mistakes are hilarious and this show had at least two of those.
My partner doesn’t understand jamming all that well. She wants to listen to solid melodies and while Omar Rodriguez Lopez or Flea or Eric Clapton can pull those out of their pocket with their eyes clothes, most musicians can’t. I don’t need a jam to be incredibly moving.
My idea of a good jam is one that’s half good melodies or rhythm and half interesting. I like the twists and turns it takes. I like seeing how the artist reacts to what they just produced. It’s the closest thing music can come to conversation. The artist is showing you exactly what they are in that moment.
It’s like a snapshot of their ability and emotion and whatever is on their mind. I know it’s a tall order for some people to appreciate this kind of performance but since I have a lot of artist friends I imagine at least half the people who came enjoyed that kind of thing too and I’d like to attract more of them.
About a year ago when I got back to playing live I decided that I wanted my music to overlap with the performance arts scene and the experimental music scene. I don’t want to make music that isn’t melodic, at least not much of it, but I think jamming, especially as a solo artist with a few tricks up their sleeve, is a good way to bring your music into that scene.
These two shows were about a year and 8 months ago and since then we’ve participated in 5 or 6 other shows, one of which was focused around experimental music and performance arts.
If I have my way 60% of my shows will be electric guitar with frequent guests, a little jamming and alternate versions of my songs, then 20% will be acoustic guitar and vocals only and 20% will be more experimental with a few songs sprinkled in. That’s what we are aiming for and it’ll depend on the venue and other artists where and when we do what.
The Dig will likely never be played again, and that is part of the beauty of jams, and it’s also the reason I started documenting my shows. Of course I could develop it into a song, add other instruments and layers, create a vocal melody or cut out the less interesting parts to make it tight, and with one other jam on the live albums, I will likely do that but I think The Dig was only meant for this show and for those who listen to this live album.
Next up is Speaking Leaves, the song I just submitted a studio version to streaming platforms.
I recently discovered scrobble.life, a project by @acidyo where you can rate movies and books, create music playlists and write reviews and comments on songs and videos. For each person who goes there, logs in with their hive account and writes a comment (a quick take) on The Dig, I will buy $5 of Hive and give out a big fat upvote or two.
Currently ready to buy: $15 of Hive
Here’s a link:
https://scrobble.life/music?v=wnHL6onUMvA
