The Story Behind The Song. Track 10 - All Surface
This is one of the better songs on the album, I think. Man is it a whopper, too. I'm listening to it as I write this and I'm remembering just how long that's going to take. :)
As to what it's about, I talked a bit about that in my interview with present magazine. Allow me to repeat myself:
All Surface was the first song I wrote after we got back to Kansas City from recording Kinda Like Fireworks. Based on more gmail searching it looks like I wrote it in early April. Winter was hanging on way too long, which is where the "float away winter" opening line comes from. I found myself floundering in a number of ways, both personal and professional. I felt I was stuck in a dead-end job. I was feeling old. I felt crippled by responsiblity. I was experiencing the postpartum blues that follow the completion of any major art project. There were other things too. I was basically just kind of bummed and feeling more than a little isolated and adrift. So yeah, it's more or less an encapsulation of the mood and an attempt to turn the feelings of hopelessness into useful angst. Angst and frustration can be powerful feelings if you take action in response to them, I think. It was tough for me, actually, letting that song out. I've always tried to make the Sexy Accident an upbeat band, and so I've censored songs that were too gloomy or serious in the past. This time I just let them out. I can't tell if it's led to a better result, to do that, but it's an experiment. :) You gotta take chances.
As for production, there's lots of neat stuff here. This is the only song on the album that we played without Daniel listening to a click track. So the tempo ebbs and flows as the song moves, and I think it works out perfectly and lets the song breathe like it should. What you're hearing is a live take with extra goodness sprinkled on top.
A few months before we recorded I got a freebie piano that a family was willing to let go of if we moved it. It's a beautiful 1903 upright grand, and it has a wonderful and full sound. I don't play piano, really, but I started to figure out how to play the guitar parts to my songs on it for fun. I became so enamored with how the two arpeggiated verse parts from All Surface sounded on piano that I decided I had to play some keys when we tracked it, which I did. Black Lodge's spinet doesn't sound quite as cool as my piano at home, but it wasn't feasible to track in my living room. :)
What else... oh, during the DUM DUM DUM parts in the pre-choruses, Daniel is pounding an extra kick drum with a rubber mallet. That was fun, too. Woot.
Next up: Won't You Be Mine?
- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE
As to what it's about, I talked a bit about that in my interview with present magazine. Allow me to repeat myself:
All Surface was the first song I wrote after we got back to Kansas City from recording Kinda Like Fireworks. Based on more gmail searching it looks like I wrote it in early April. Winter was hanging on way too long, which is where the "float away winter" opening line comes from. I found myself floundering in a number of ways, both personal and professional. I felt I was stuck in a dead-end job. I was feeling old. I felt crippled by responsiblity. I was experiencing the postpartum blues that follow the completion of any major art project. There were other things too. I was basically just kind of bummed and feeling more than a little isolated and adrift. So yeah, it's more or less an encapsulation of the mood and an attempt to turn the feelings of hopelessness into useful angst. Angst and frustration can be powerful feelings if you take action in response to them, I think. It was tough for me, actually, letting that song out. I've always tried to make the Sexy Accident an upbeat band, and so I've censored songs that were too gloomy or serious in the past. This time I just let them out. I can't tell if it's led to a better result, to do that, but it's an experiment. :) You gotta take chances.
As for production, there's lots of neat stuff here. This is the only song on the album that we played without Daniel listening to a click track. So the tempo ebbs and flows as the song moves, and I think it works out perfectly and lets the song breathe like it should. What you're hearing is a live take with extra goodness sprinkled on top.
A few months before we recorded I got a freebie piano that a family was willing to let go of if we moved it. It's a beautiful 1903 upright grand, and it has a wonderful and full sound. I don't play piano, really, but I started to figure out how to play the guitar parts to my songs on it for fun. I became so enamored with how the two arpeggiated verse parts from All Surface sounded on piano that I decided I had to play some keys when we tracked it, which I did. Black Lodge's spinet doesn't sound quite as cool as my piano at home, but it wasn't feasible to track in my living room. :)
What else... oh, during the DUM DUM DUM parts in the pre-choruses, Daniel is pounding an extra kick drum with a rubber mallet. That was fun, too. Woot.
Next up: Won't You Be Mine?
- Jesse Kates / Download our music for FREE
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