GATINEAU
most of this song was recorded along the gatineau river just north of ottawa in quebec. i was lucky enough to find myself in an old summer cabin that had the historic hull-chelsea-wakefield steam train cross right through the property twice a day. you can hear sounds i sampled from it (the steam from the train, a whistle, and the train chugging along the tracks). i made a drum track and then recorded a guitar part and mandolin part over it. then i went in reverse taking pieces of it away. i wanted it to sound like the random glitchy bits at the start build slowly into full guitar/mandolin parts. a few weeks later back in my apartment in brooklyn, james apollo came over with a broken banjo and played some notes over top and it was done. there were a few of songs originally slated to be released by mossyrock way way back before we broke up. some songs i had made for our unrealized album were reworked, retooled, and remixed for JUST RAMBLE & THINK OF GHOSTS. gatineau was one of them.
COLD SPRING
cold spring new york is a small town about an hour train ride north of new york city. it is a great little escape from city life with tons of hiking trails and whatnot. i came home from there one night and recorded that wonderfully retarded little guitar hook. i put a cheesy beat behind it and then forgot all about it. a month later while touring with mossyrock i decided to do a soundcheck song with it and saw everyone in the bar nod along. the next day after a crazy drive from vienna to prague i went off by myself and fleshed it out. i was dating the singer of mossyrock at this time (a definite NO NO) and a few days later she came up with some lyrics that i found to be really annoying but figured they'd do for now. i suggested we get some ooh ooh's in there and bethany immediately came up with the chorus. after the tour our relationship was definitely over as well as mossyrock. we broke up. a good few months later i started working on moving all the unreleased and unfinished stuff i liked from mossyrock over to taperecorder. cold spring was one of the songs i wanted to finish. i contacted rae spoon who i was fond of working with and file shared the song. rae only had a few days to record it before heading to yellowknife for a few months so i had to get lyrics together quickly. one ridiculously drunken night turned into morning as the sun came up and i sat in my kitchen; i took the lyrics that DP (the singer) had come up with and changed them into something more personal. a little fuck you to her. i was drunk as hell and sent them of to rae. i really did like what rae spoon came up with and sent back to me, and even released that version (on the 'cold spring' single), but it wasn't quite what i heard in my head. so i called up former mossyrock guitarist bethany and asked her to come down and record. i remember her asking 'how do you want me to sing this? the lyrics are kind of sad." i replied "i want it to sound like a total happy pop song". she nailed it on the first take.
EVERGREEN
hmmm. this one is a hard one. i had this feeling. i can't describe the feeling. sort of lonesome; sort of lovestruck; sort of yearning. maybe? anyway, i'll start with how i made the song instead of where it came from. i took some guitar playing that bethany had done. some outtakes from mossyrock stuff. i looped bits and rearranged and layered the hell out of it. soon i had this thick lush textured sound. at one point i literally listened to that loop for over an hour. hearing brand new sounds emerge from in between the sound i had made. whatever the feeling was i had captured it. 100%! from there i laid it out into a two and a half minute song. slowly tweaking the main guitar-cum-pad sound and even slowly adding a few new layers to it as the song progressed. i added some blips of bethany vocals to it. i recorded me using an old egg shaker. i added a drum kick from my old shitty groovebox. then i added a bassline from my wonky old bass guitar. then some glockenspiel. et voila. i had my song. some people really don't get it and that is ok. my mum said it sounds like the record is skipping. other people have told me it is their favourite. either way, i love it. it is one of my oldest taperecorder songs. made before all the previously released stuff. it was originally going to be a mossyrock song (and i think first appeared on a tour only EP at some point) but it didn't see a proper release until JUST RAMBLE & THINK OF GHOSTS. there are a few version of the song now. there is sort of a prequel to it called nevergreen (which can be found on 'THE DEVIL IS A BUSY MAN' and the 'evergreen [full on]' EP. there is also a version where some vocals by toof appear at the end (from the 'evergreen [full on]' EP), and a remix from quebecois boy beeker (also on the 'evergreen [full on]' EP).
DENMARK
i wrote the lyrics for this while sitting at one of my favourite bars in brooklyn (the levee). i was feeling strange and lonesome yet didn't really want to be around anyone. it took me a lot of time to write them. like, 10 or 11 visits. which is funny because they don't even seem that great. i drank many a $4 shot and beer (known as a 'sportsman') while coming up with them. the song itself came about when i decided i really wanted to make another guitar song with the guitar bits rearranged. i had done this with a song by mossyrock called 'rain dries & clouds form'. i liked the warbly guitar. it was obviously a guitar but it sounded glitchy. i had been playing around with the chords i used for a few years but never in any sort of serious way. so i recorded them, looped them, and then offset the samples. i was really happy with the end result. rae spoon was going to sing this one originally but objected to the lyrics 'getting fat on my own fear'. i guess rae would have been polarized by the LBGT community for using thew word fat. even if it was just a metaphor. oh well, bethany nailed it. sometime later i asked jenn mierau to record a cover of it for the evergreen [full on] EP and she gave me a beautiful yet spooky stripped down cover that used only a wurlitzer and her voice. i think what she did is absolutely amazing. i should also point out that the song denmark by ocean blue and a magical week i spent in copenhagan played a big role in the naming of this song.
-side b to follow-
