It seems like July 23rd was years ago, the day that we began this long journey, holing up in my 1950's wood-floored house with instruments piled up around our heads, but on November 20th we finally finished our new album!  We've called it Songs For Waiting.

And what a journey it's been...for myself, I've learned a lot.  This is the first record that we did from start to finish ourselves, including the mixing (the first record Martin Feveyear out in Seattle mixed for us while we looked over his shoulder).  With this album we wanted to mold each part of the process in our own hands...which was scary in some ways!   The inspiration for the sound of this album really came from my living room, a house we rent in the old section of town (Winter Park) where we wrote and crafted most of these songs.  The deep resonance of this room just creates a feeling, a real atmosphere, and our whole goal was to play into the room and just capture that feeling.  From the very beginning, our vision was to use as few modern recording techniques as possible - just to set up room microphones and play our instruments, mic'ing them in the way we wanted them to sound on the recording.

Most music is recorded to capture the best possible "tone" of the instrument, usually mic'd at a very close distance, and then artificial reverb is used to try to make each instrument blend together.  What we did from the very beginning is tried to picture where each instrument would be placed in the stereo field and then mic'd that instrument with that end in mind.   So when we recorded background vocals, and we wanted them to sound like they came from behind the main voices, we stood 10 feet back from the microphone.  In some ways this was kind of a crazy way to make an album, very old school, but once we got into it it felt really liberating and we found ourselves getting really creative with the space in the room and all the places we could put the microphones for different feels and sounds.  We even recorded our 1980's synthesizers by playing them out into the room.

One of the best things for me was the way we have really pulled together as a band through making this album.  This is our first album as a full band, 6 members, when the first one was just Matt and I.  A lot of times in concert or loud rehearsals I can't hear the intricate parts that each member is working out, but as the main audio engineer I got to spend hours and hours with each person in my living room helping to record their parts into my laptop and I got to witness what a range of amazing talents each person brings to this band.  I feel crazy blessed to be a part of this!  I love the way each person brought the right touch of minimalism to their parts, willing to drop something or change something to make the song better at a moment's notice.  Each sacrificing themselves for the whole. 

Throughout the process of mixing we were guided, mentored really, by Alan Douches at West West Side Music, who's hand has been on everything from Paul Simon's Graceland to Sufjan Steven's Illinoise and Grizzly Bear's Yellow House.  His insight, and more than that his confidence and encouragement in us and our music, has been totally priceless.  Thank you, Alan.

And the finished product?  Is beautiful to me. We wanted to make an album that transports, and I feel like it does that.  We wanted to make an album that pushes ourselves musically, lyrically, and in songwriting, and I feel like it does that. The album art by Justin Mezzell is shaping up to fit it perfectly as well. 

OK, you're dying to ask, when can I buy this thing??!   In a very short period of time we'll be posting a new song for download and another one streaming on this very site.  Contact us now to find out about pre-ordering the new album (more details to come).  The album will be officially released on March 4th....and we'll be playing shows featuring our new songs starting with January 5th, Saturday, at the Social.   Until then...
Ryan

PS.  I also videotaped the recording process so we'll be putting together an album trailer video in the next month or two. In the meantime, here's some still images from the video: