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Sweden, day 12 ::
Finished the Artifacts and Fantasies string arrangement after working on it for about an hour this morning at the guest house and at the studio. Did the 15-20 minute walk to the studio for the first time, enjoying the perfect weather (Justin had taken the car to town for a shopping run).
Jens arrived around 1; we hung out for quite awhile before getting set up to record drums. In the end of Don’t Know I Know, it took a while to find the right sound and part (ambient or close-miked? straight groove or flowing accents? In the end it was ambient and flowing, though Christoffer records drums with lots of extra mikes and so the sound decisions can be revisited at mix time.)
We were interrupted by a truck honking; half a ton of 2” tape had arrived from Los Angeles. Justin and I joked that we should have brought it with us since Icelandair seemed so friendly about extra baggage.
Then we did drums for Where You Lay, which went quickly; a really simple repetitive beat worked fine.
Dinner at the Danish place again. Had a pizza which was initially amazing; it had a crust with almost as much cheese as a grilled cheese sandwich. By the end it was a bit disappointing; the tomato sauce was just sort of piled on top of the baby shrimp and tunafish toppings.
It was raining and the car’s wipers were moving slowly. The poor ancient Volvo stalled while pulling into the restaurant and after dinner I was concerned about it starting again, but it did—then stalled at the corner at the top of the first hill. We push-started it and out of paranoia I kept racing the engine to keep it from stalling once more. But a few kilometers from the studio, it began to sputter again, and I couldn’t keep it running. Possibly an alternator or battery problem.
We got out. To the west, golden rays of sun were breaking through the clouds. In front of us was a grass field full of yellow wildflowers. I was reminded of descriptions of heaven by near-death experiencers.
Christoffer came to rescue us. Justin and I were advocating a tow truck; Jens and Christoffer were saying no, that would cost a thousand dollars, in Sweden we tow our own cars. Indeed, Christoffer had a tow line, and I steered the Volvo as Christoffer towed us back to the studio. Towing with a line like that is illegal in the U.S. and I see why; my instincts were screaming as we followed Christoffer at probably 70+ km/hr at a distance of just a few meters. Fortunately he slowed down very gradually for the turn, because without the car running, the power brakes didn’t work.
We overdubbed ride cymbal on one bit of Where You Lay and moved on to Talking Points. Interrupted by a thunderstorm—powered down the whole studio to protect the gear. Joked that with the car breakdown and the thunderstorm, something was trying to keep us from recording drums for Talking Points but that we were going to overcome.
It took some time here for Jens to work out parts for the multiple sections, but he made it bigger and more aggressive than Justin or I had imagined based on the demo; somehow the real drums made the electronic percussion sound more evil and alive too.
At one point, Christoffer was doing a bit of digital assembly on the drums and someone said, “this is how albums are made now, everybody waits while one guy works with the computer.” Christoffer noted that this was the most computer-intensive project he’d ever done. It’s the most analog and acoustic one I’ve done with my own music since bouncing tracks between cassette decks in 1981.
Almost finished the string quartet score for Where You Lay before leaving around 1 am.
| << Sweden, day 11 | 2005 > June | Sweden, day 13 >> |