May, 2004

After Bad Luck, I decided I wanted to make a mega-record. I felt in control of what I was doing and usually those who feel in control of what they think is "their art" tend to make strong movements. For musicians you always eventually get the "DOUBLE ALBUM!!!" Anyway, I started writing all this material during the recording of Bad Luck and I wanted to turn this material into a grand sweeping statement about my relationship to music. It was inspired by a due date. By the end of April, I needed to have turned in my Senior Individualized Project. It could be about whatever I wanted it to be about. Most music majors did recitals, and I did one of those as well, but I didn't want to make it my SIP.

I wanted this grand double album to be my magnum opus. I wanted to say everything I ever wanted to say about music in two CDs. The City and The State it was to be called. One an extrinsic exploration of musical activities (this record), and the other an intrinsic look at the state of my relationship to music (the other record which ended up being called Grace Monica). And I wanted the K College Music department to support me on whatever I wanted to do. I wanted school credit for it. I wanted everyone at K to realize that I had thought a lot about music and I dreamed of this massive release where all my colleagues and professors attended.

None of that really happened. My accompanist for private voice,Mary Beth Birch, came to the presentation and my SIP chair would have attended if not for a family emergency. No other music faculty showed up. My family and friends attended but it was with little fan fair within the college. I didn't get the Kalamazoo College symphony to perform on the record, I didn't get the chamber choir to sing the fugue. But, I did get two records I'm really proud of, and I did get college credit and got to cart blanche use of the band room and all the orchestral instruments. And at the end of the year they gave me this cool book on Ambient Music which I enjoy reading over and over. So all is well. But most of this doesn't pertain to the record we're talking about.

The City was the "buddy record" I wanted as the one record. I had Matt, myself and my future-brother-in-law Andy perform. A lot of the tracks had the instrumentation of a rock band. Most of the songs were rock songs, I guess. I think it's a fun record. It was recorded "traditionally" for me. Summer sessions. The basement of my parents house, long "hang-out" sessions working out the tracks...eating junk food. It will be the last recorded that way, I'm sure. I enjoy the looseness of the record and the fact that it isn't really genre-fiable, but isn't overtly weird for weird's sake either. Plus, nothing beats Matt's solo tone on Mayor Shrub. My favorite recorded guitar tone ever.