Unlike all of the other albums here, this one was a truly collaborative effort. I had put a band together to play Perestroika live, and I had been so encouraged by the process that I thought we should write and record the next album together as a band. I put everything I had into writing the songs simply on acoustic guitar, with all of my focus being on the lyrics and melodies. I approached the songs like dense poems, and I trusted it to the band to help me interpret them.

I couldn’t have been happier with the results. Ken McLeod’s drumming is so original and just makes the whole thing bounce. Dan Kaplan puts such love into the piano strokes. Seth Henderson just rocks the end of “Regenerator” on the bass in a way that makes the whole song. Aaron Butt and Jud Abts are the most opposite guitar players I can imagine, but the songs wouldn’t work without either of their unique styles. And Kiara Perico on the viola is just the icing on the cake. Much credit also goes to Bradley Royds, who engineered and co-produced the album with me at his his studio, as well as our Kickstarter supporters who really made us feel loved.

I settled on eight songs, because the songs are dense, and some of them are long. It’s like one of those albums from the 70s where six or eight songs felt like plenty. (I dare you to take it in all at once!)

Anyway, I’m really proud of this record and I’m so glad it exists. It’s the best sounding thing I’ve ever been a part of, and I think the songs are pretty good, too. 🙂 It makes me wish I had everybody back together, just so we could rock out the end of “There is a Darkness” one more time.

 

-Josh Caress

May 2016