Saturday 14 December 2013

To the Bone: The Mixes 2

Ok, ok... Marcus and Luce wish all of our readers a 'Merry Xmas'!
And me and Willow? Well, I'm a humbug who looked a bit of a bellhead in the hat and Willow? Well... she's a dog.

'Angelicana' is our most challenging mix thus far.
There are disparate elements flying around.
We had deliberately incorporated Americana (dobro/pedal steel) and Britsounds (mellotron/distorted piano/classic Hammond) and this starts to sit uncomfortably with Marcus who feels that we have lost the quirkiness, whilst I see that USA/UK dichotomy as vital to the track's meaning: our heroine's yearning for the 'dusty roads' of Elsewhere. We go eyebrow to eyebrow and I eventually get my own way. This one could come back to haunt me... The Scientist is usually right!
I offer elevensies and the olive branch is accepted, except we then cannot agree on English Breakfast, Earl Grey, or a cup of Java...
'Man Behind the Moon' is slight (the word 'vignette' is outlawed) but important to the flow of the album. "There's something in the water, there's something in the air, there's something in the way that you worry with your hair." 
It's a gentle diversion and (dare I say) an easy mix of voice, piano, guitar, double bass, with some mellotron 'voices' added to give add a bit of grain. My whistling tooth gives Marcus some grief but the de 's'er soon sorts the sibilance.
A light lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches makes my whistling tooth ache even more . Willow wolfs down the left overs and then demands a walk.
'The Fullness of Time' is a similar arrangement to 'Man Behind the Moon'; we'll need to separate these in the running order. 'We danced as Dusty Springfield sang...' finds that whistling tooth again but it's sssoon sssorted.
Marcus and I hit the kitchen for a beer while I wait for the friday evening traffic to evaporate.
Three more songs to mix and we'll be done.
I'll be back on Tuesday for a couple of days.
It'll all be over by Christmas...

1 comment:

  1. OK, if we have to have instruments other than an acoustic guitar then I can live with Mellotron & Hammond. A mixture of The Moody Blues and Spencer Davies Group. Sounds like a winner to me :) - when you've finished it you just HAVE to use the phrase, 'They think it's all over; it is now!'

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