The beginnings of this new album “Where The Water Runs Through”, originated before the 2020 pandemic restrictions kicked in. The “songs” were partly formed as we started to play them as a band, keeping the stuff that worked and sharing the rough recordings between us. The lyrics were not complete and in many cases were streams of consciousness sung to get the phrasing and “shape” of the songs. As the tunes took form we started recording the rhythm tracks. I had decided to have 3 key premises for these recordings. The classical guitar would be the main guiding instrument ( a bit like an early Leonard Cohen album), the songs would have vocal harmonies wherever possible and that the songs would be simple and moving. We recorded the album at Michael and Darlene’s home in Stanmore Bay with keyboard parts done by Vernon at his place with some remote recordings, such as Glenn’s Weissenborn guitar at his place. When the final vocals were needed, the lyrics were confirmed. The wording had altered so much in some cases that the songs titles also needed to be changed. A variety of trial mixes were done by Michael and Vernon and a decision on the songs direction was made. This guided and informed the final mixes.
So did it all go as planned? Well, not in every case. We found that having too many songs based on classical guitar produced a level of undesirable uniformity, so keyboards and other guitar types were used as the basis, entry and exit points for some of the songs. The harmonies stayed central to the album and Darlene Te Young’s backing and lead vocals are essential to the character of the songs. My aversion to overly complex song structures and highly detailed production has meant the songs have remained simple. The exceptional ideas by all the musicians have allowed each of the songs to have a unique voice. A huge thanks to all the musicians and singers for their determination to complete the album and to Steve Garden at Rattle Records for making the decision to release it on his label.
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