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Album
Commentary
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Comments by Neil Cousin - Artist |
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Comments
by Dan Puzny - Producer
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It's a very obscure feeling in a
way, but a very common one, that
sooner or later something or someone
is going to turn up and take us away
from all this, and perhaps offer
some sort of explanation or meaning.
It's one of the many aspirations of
the unaspiring.
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Something Will Come |
I first heard the demo as just an
acoustic guitar and vocals and we
decided to build it into something
bigger without pushing it too far. |
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This song came from an experimental
session playing with an
echo pedal, the reverb effect on a
sampler, and a 4 track tape player.
The whole thing was held together
with a broken patch chord and it
only worked if you balanced a shoe
on the cable. The first version was
done onto cassette which made it
sound underwater.
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Garden |
The song was actually about 6
minutes but we agreed on making it
more articulate. We kept that
"clock" sounding drum beat, it is
very special, then I made it swing
between the speakers like a pendulum
to bring it out more as a clock than
a drum because people always called
it the "clock sound" instead of a
drum from the demo. |
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This song was written several years
ago and I never recorded it for
ages, but it seemed to fit in with
this set of songs. The original
version had a massive James Bond
keyboard part over it, which was
wisely cut.
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Spy |
This is the only song I asked if I
could hide from Neil until the mix
was finished to surprise him.
Other than adding drums, it is all
Neil, but the production effects
added changed the sound from the
more acoustic demo, but still
maintained Neil's vision and mood on
the song. I actually kept one
of those James Bond sounding tracks
Neil mentions, the others interfered
slightly, and I felt the song did
not need them, and Neil definitely
agreed after hearing the new
version. |
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The Lyric 'paper thin hotel' is from
a song on a Leonard Cohen Album
called 'Death of a Ladies Man'. It's
an album he did with the producer
Phil Spector, and one of his least
well known. It's got
completely ridiculous overdone
production, and it sounds like it's
all a bit drunk. The sleeve notes
credit the local booze shop. It sold
nothing in the USA when it came out
but its one of my favourites.
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Hotel |
Neil originally did it in fairly
limited recording conditions, but
got the feeling of the song and I
loved it. We took a big risk
to recorded it from scratch.
It came out better than the earlier
version, and Neil made it longer and
added more harmonies and guitars and
it became a true masterpiece.
Maybe my favourite song on the
album. |
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This song is a mystery, because I
don't recognise the main character
or the people in it. I think the
subject of the lyric is kind of
hopeless in a way, you get the
impression things aren't going to
work out at all.
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Ask |
This song was like an accident being
on the album. We never planned
to do this song, and actually I
heard the demo once and forgot it.
Neil used some spare time at the end
of a session just to try it a
different way. I wanted
nothing added because his
performance is one of the best I
have ever heard from anyone.
I wanted to protect the raw emotion
of the song expressed through that
single guitar and vocal track.
The harmonies give this beautiful
angelic lift that Neil does so well,
that part always raises the hair on
the back of my neck.
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I think this has an old fashioned
feel to it, something like Noel
Coward. It's about an ordinary
person looking at a Myth through
their own eyes.
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Mermaid |
Sounds from the acoustic guitar on
this had so many colours and such a
sweet sound that we did not feel the
need to add much. Neither of
us really wanted drums on it so we
just went with light percussion. |
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This song came from a book of
photographs I bought. It was a
series of shots of New York by
Moreno Gentili. There is one shot of
some lizards in silhouette. It was
that and having a fever one hot day
in summer, and some memory about
someone I know who became a lizard
once for a short time.
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Lizard Liberation Day |
The second song Produced on the
album, it has the most number of
instruments on it.
Wow, I had never heard anything like
it, and really spent the time and
care on this production. I felt like
I was producing David Bowie in the
early 70's.
It was the most rewarding song to
work on.
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There is a place on the South coast
of England called St Leonards on
Sea. It is a seaside town, in the
winter it's all closed down and
weird, like a ghost town. Like the
Smiths' lyric, exactly like it. I
spent a weekend there once and this
song reminds me of it.
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Caravan |
The only song on the album that is
not in-time.
It is a live performance intended
NOT to follow perfect timing, but to
be more like a live jam that focused
100% on the mood pushing the energy
of the song. |
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This song was always meant to be
spacious, in the sense of providing
the listener with a wide sonic
atmosphere to get inside and be a
part of. It contains a lot of noises
that are just on the edge of being
there and not. The producer bought a
new reverb rack mount to finish the
song.
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Not Tonight, Josephine |
I ran out and bought this new piece
of gear just for this song.
The song really depended on getting
that spaciousness Neil wanted to
help you get completely lost in it.
I used it to get the depth and width
you can hear. |
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All my albums so far have had one
Velvets tribute. This is the one.
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My Best Friend |
This was the perfect song for what
he wanted to do, I am also a big fan
of The Velvet Underground. I
wanted to get it perfect and please
Neil on this one the most. It
had to sound like it was off a
Velvet Underground album, but
technically better of course for
2008, which was a fun balance to
explore. It ended up
ultra-cool and mellow. |
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