It Stands to Reason

Don't let the fact I'm back in reharsal make you think the Hayoth sessions are on a back-burner, or anything.

Track number seven, "Reason," is in progress. Drum and bass parts are recorded. Really, super happy with the drum part, actually. It took some work to get a good take, but I love the way it moves and plays counterpoint to the guitar and bass parts. The bass part, as well, is sounding good, but I think it's going to change what I'm playing guitar-wise. Which is really no big deal, since I discard the scratch track at this point, anyway.

The song has evolved, as it was one of the tracks that I worked on with Paul and Morgan last year. The idea at that point was to give it some swing and a bit of funk. I don't know if we hit that, but, honestly, I'm not enough of a drummer to get EXACTLY what I was originally going for anyway with the sessions now. "Reason" has become more of a straight ahead rocker. Which is fine.

It's one of the most exciting things that's come out of doing the drumming myself, and not being slaved to the machine. I really do feel like each track has an identity at this point. They feel part-and-parcel of a whole, but also individual facets of that whole.

Obviously, "The Rain Came Down" and "Cliffs of Moher" are distinctive for being primarily acoustic. "Rain" is in the ballad realm, and "Moher," to my ears, has just the right touch of folk song to it. "Deliverance" has a bit of backwoods flavor, I think, which fits with the lyrical inspiration (the film). "Dark Water" tends toward a blues-based ballad, and "MonkeySex" straight-ahead rock. "Haunting" is a full-out 12-bar blues structure, very simple, but with a kick. They all feel part of the whole, as I said, I'm talking about stylistic shadings, rather than swinging violently around the spectrum.

It's exciting. I'm feeling very confident, and and I'm tending not to second-guess everything to death. Decisions are becoming easier. For example, I have pretty much decided that after Track number eight "Getting Dollars Back," I am done with formal recording. I have one more track floating around that's evolving, but these eight tracks represent the best of what I have right now. They're the strong material available, and anything else would involve some scrambling.

So, the project will consist of eight tracks. I always shoot for twelve, but I'd rather just have eight solid songs. I could come up with four more, but why not just make them the first four of the second disk?

"Rain" and "Moher" are DONE. I cannot imagine any amount of tinkering I could do would improve what's there. As is "MonkeySex." That track represents what I am aiming for when I begin final mixes on the rest of the "full band" tracks. The drums are there, but not overwhelming, the bass is present, but not obtrusive. The vocals have just the right amount of processing to my ears. The trick is to re-mix the other five track to find that sweet spot. Probably re-record some vocals.

Still, I should have all of December for that, and I'll make my self-imposed deadline. Then, I can go into 2014 focused on the acting job I spoke about yesterday, and write until next summer. Then I can start over again.