Monthly Archives : January 2015

The 12 Weeks of Fate Line (aka Fate Line Friday) – Living Out Loud

Living Out Loud is the 10th track on “Fate Line” and one of the oldest tunes, written a few years ago when I was just starting to write my own songs and exploring that phenomena of self-expression and discovery through music. I often introduce this tune as something we singer-songwriters do – live out loud. But I have revised or refined my perspective on this a bit, having recently read a very interesting essay by Meaghan Daum about what she termed “the Joni Mitchell problem” – that is, the problem of being labelled a confessionalist, as Joni often is, when in fact you’re attempting something much more nuanced and generous, something outward-looking rather than navel-gazing. So what I will say about this song is that I consider it an homage to all those who endeavor to express themselves or communicate their ideas through music. In fact, I single out one of my early singer-songwriter inspirations, Lucinda Williams:

I listen to Lucinda sing
About her satisfied mind
Wonderin’ if that’s something
I will ever find

I still get goosebumps when we play the song – first, when the band gently joins me instrumentally after the first verse and then when they join in the chorus with their beautiful Shiner harmonies! And there’s nothing like singing “I am seeking” in unison with the lot of them at the end of the song to bring the point home!

Simon says: Living Out Loud is the most ‘country’ tune on the album. Its a very acoustic song, lots of acoustic guitars, Jen and John, lyrical Violin, gentle drums and bass…. and lots of harmony singing! Its an older song that the band has played live for a good few years now and it was a beautiful thing to finally record it. Highlights to me in the tune are Jon’s violin in the chorus which weaves around Jens vocal so beautifully, the backgrounds in the chorus…and the overall gentle reflective mood created. I think Eckart Tolle would approve!

The Good Doctor says: Jon’s playing on this song really stands out for me. I love his sliding, double-stopped phrases in the solo particularly. It’s our most old-timey sounding song on the record and Jon is a critical part of that. It’s too bad we never got around to him also adding a mandolin part, which would have countried it up even more.

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The 12 Weeks of Fate Line (aka Fate Line Friday) – A Story’s End

A Story’s End is the 9th song on our album and is culled from a childhood memory – or more accurately story. In fact, it is that distinction that is the very inspiration for the song. I became fascinated with the delicate line between “truth” and “fiction,” between memory and fable, and how burdensome, destructive and persistent these stories can be. But troublemakers though they are, they are the very things that can illuminate and liberate and then dissipate, once revealed or picked apart. The song ends with such a plea:

story’s older now
it’s hard to till or plow
a soil that never took the seed
but just a fragile weed
that undermined
your own drive
to be free…
so be free

I had already written the song when I saw Sarah Polley’s documentary Stories We Tell – a powerful film that touches on these same themes – the subjectivity of truth – and even involves people that were part of my world in Montreal when I was a child and my mother was working in the film business. I have always meant to send her the song – may still do!

Simon says: Story’s End is a campfire song! Well, perhaps not anymore….but its origins spring from a campfire on a beautiful balmy summer night on Georgian Bay, Ontario. Jen was strumming some vibey chords and a baseline popped into my head… The one that Astrid so beautifully plays on the record… beats wise, I was found a rhythm with the wood I’d gathered for the fire. Smoke rose through the trees, sweet inspiration paid us a visit!
There’s an old recording of all this somewhere…
Jon’s viola on the tune is really gorgeous as he answers the bass, and weaves in an out of the lyric. I’ve become a huge fan of the viola during the making of this record…its such a beautiful and warm, sonorous, rich sounding instrument.
We go all 60s Liverpudlian in the bridge and I pay special homage to Ringo with my best impression in the middle!
Where would music have gone without those four fellas?

The good Doctor John says:
A Story’s End has had an interesting evolution. The end of each verse was originally fairly simple – just two chords drawn out. Then Simon wrote an interesting ascending bassline, which changed the nature of the chords. We also wanted some interesting back-up vocals to fit in this section, echoing Jen’s last word. I originally arranged a slightly intricate set of vocal lines that ascended somewhat parallel to the bassline. I guess they were too intricate because by the time the band got back to these parts, they’d forgotten them. So they came up with a simpler, but still nice set of lines for the recording. I tried to recapture a bit of the complexity by adding in one more note that would provide a bit more dissonance.

The bridge was also originally pretty simple until we decided to really Beatle it up – not sure whose suggestion that originally was. So Astrid has a nice jaunty melodic bassline, Simon does a classic Ringo fill in the middle, and Jeremy let me put my Rickenbacker through a Leslie pedal to give a great swirly sound to my arpeggiations. All we were missing was some sitar.

The other change was Jon shifting from violin to viola. His original violin work on the song was lovely as usual. At some point he decided to switch to viola, which added a richness of tone that gives the song a bit more gravitas.

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The 12 Weeks of Fate Line (aka Fate Line Friday) – I Will

The eighth song on our album is NOT our prog rock song according to the good doctor but as far I’m concerned it is epic as prog rock, at least musically (quite a journey of sound and dynamics). Lyrically it is about a journey – to find yourself, by yourself, away from “absent ties that bind” and toward awakening.

I do love the drop D tuning and drone – and the sliding chords and how the band just rocks out on this tune – one of our almost instrumentals! Other than the dedication of the Shiners in developing this song, I feel fortunate that my good friend Arlene Bishop lent her distinctive voice to the recording – singing the oracle part I wrote just for her.

Simon says: I Will is a strange song for us to do in some ways, it has alot of mood changes ( despite being mostly in D with a drone like quality) But it then kicks along at a good gallop in the chorus and instrumental sections. There are fewer lyrics than in most of Jen’s songs but it’s not diminished by that. It has a recurring celtic melody section…jazz-like chords, and a sparseness in the verse and a big rock chorus, with Dr J’s Rickenbacker in full overdriven, jangly effect! The dynamics are all important in this tune.
The song had a long gestation over a few years: tempo, instrumentation, groove changes aplenty before it settled into its present form with everyone having contributed to its evolution.

The good doctor John says: When we get it right, this song can be a good example of how the band can lock into a groove. It helps that the main refrain section gets repeated a jillion times, so we have lots of chances to get it right. Jen, Jonathan, and I are essentially all playing the same line mostly, giving it strength and richness of texture (I also overdub another acoustic guitar, furthering the layering). Astrid does some really nice work anchoring everything, while simultaneously adding some lovely melodic embellishments. And Simon is rock solid, giving a great push of energy.

This is one of two tracks on which I play my Rickenbacker 12-string (there is a brief cameo on A Story’s End). I originally bought this guitar several decades ago, after having saved up for it. I mainly bought it because I loved its sound in the recordings of The Byrds, The Beatles, REM, and Genesis. I enjoyed playing it at home, but never used it for live performance until I Will.

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