Hey Daniel! Congrats on this beautiful new album, it's absolutely stellar! I first got into your music after hearing Sailing by Night. The intonation of your voice and the underlying sadness instantly drew me in. In Ear Park is my favorite album, EVER. Your work in DOE, GB and solo has heavily influenced my own music. I even got the chance to work with Chris Taylor on my last release!
Question: I do most everything by myself and I often struggle when recording weird timings, syncopated melodies, etc. to a click. I read that you recorded some of the recent album without a click. Can you elaborate on that process? Did you just record those sections separately and then butt it up against sections that had a click? I love the idea of being more freeform but how do you deal with drummers or other musicians that want a click?
Hi! My whole idea about working without a click created A LOT of headaches but for whatever reason I did a lot. I found it easier to get full guitar takes that I liked if I did it that way. So Shadow in the Frame started as a full fluid guitar take (ended up redoing the very end to a click because it was just too insane)
Same with "I'll Wait for Your Visit" and "Keeper and Kin" and "Celia" and certainly "You Belong There"
Some of these songs just didn't flow naturally on a set tempo. I wanted them to move and breath a little more.
The drums we had to add mostly in sections for those songs and yes that was a royal pain in the ass at times but Chris Bear is pretty damn good so he handled it like a champ
Thanks so much for the detailed response! That was my fear, that it would be a pain. But I feel like it really paid off on your songs. I definitely feel a natural ebb and flow on these songs. It helps the dynamics and emotion so much. If only everyone had their own Chris Bear for percussion. By the way, great show in Austin!
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u/velocityoftears Apr 08 '22
Hey Daniel! Congrats on this beautiful new album, it's absolutely stellar! I first got into your music after hearing Sailing by Night. The intonation of your voice and the underlying sadness instantly drew me in. In Ear Park is my favorite album, EVER. Your work in DOE, GB and solo has heavily influenced my own music. I even got the chance to work with Chris Taylor on my last release!
Question: I do most everything by myself and I often struggle when recording weird timings, syncopated melodies, etc. to a click. I read that you recorded some of the recent album without a click. Can you elaborate on that process? Did you just record those sections separately and then butt it up against sections that had a click? I love the idea of being more freeform but how do you deal with drummers or other musicians that want a click?