postcard from the studio, day 15

No, I can count; yes, it has been over a month since we started. It’s a fits-and-starts recording process. Lots of location scouting, practicing, phone calls and emails in between. Not to mention trips to the bank and crossing fingers that my deposits clear in time.

It’s been a fantastic week: keyboards and one glorious day with a chamber string orchestra, which was preceded by several all-nighters of composing (Alex) and transcribing/editing (me). More thoughts on this whole delirious process when I’m not falling asleep in middle-airplane-seat position.

Here’s lyrics for an album song not yet played live. Haven’t figured out how to make a performance capture the sense of scale required.

Watershed

while you were building your empires
I was still sleeping
I was still sleeping
while you were setting your woods afire
I was still dreaming
I was still dreaming

now I will unsettle the ground beneath you
send my waters ashore
creep into your bed
find you in every corner

while you argue it over
I am not waiting
I am not waiting
while you retreat to your comforts
I am not fading
I am not fading

I’ve done this many times before you
old Shanghai
New Orleans
Amsterdam and Mumbai
strange new creatures
to scavenge your pores
oh I’ve done this many times before you
ashen sky
lightning storms
deltas to desert plains
wartime on every border

I’ve done this many times before you
watched the pattern take form
children your time is done
if you say it’s done together