Finished!

I write to you from my Brooklyn apartment on a cold December Saturday.
The sounds of sunrise at the speakeasy fill the apartment as I play the finished
tracks in their final order. It is a strange feeling that comes over me when I finish something. Yes, there are still photographs to be taken and art work to be designed, but the recordings are done. The process of recording my first album was at times painful and frustrating, not only because of the content of the songs but also due to my virginity to the world of production. I tried things. I failed at times and rerecorded them, but kept pushing forward. This album came so much easier. I knew what I wanted. I took what I had learned on Sirens and expanded it. I feel proud of this album. I think it is timely and important. The songs are new and fresh. I can't wait to share it with everyone. The release date is going to happen next summer, June or July. I am excited.

Now a question has been looming in my head. I have all of these songs that were written during the Sirens of Brooklyn and Sunrise at the Speakeasy sessions. I find myself unable to stop working on the next project. I don't know what that is right now. I don't want these songs, now b-sides to be left behind. Many of them are my favorite songs in certain ways but just didn't feel right for the album at the time.
These are a few that sort of stick with me, in the back of my head, wanting to be heard...

God in the Telephone Book
Cherry Falls
The Ocean and the Easel
Single File
Duct Tape and Superglue
600 Miles (Thank You)
Down So Low
Pretty Decent Guy
Lullabye
The Siren
Wash Away
Afraid of The Dark
Big From Down Here

Perhaps, the next thing is an album of b-sides. We shall see. For now, I am going to enjoy the holiday with some time in Kansas starting next Friday. Perhaps some new songs will try to push their way out. Perhaps some old ones will beg me for a pair of dancing shoes. Only a little time will tell.

Cherry Falls-Lyrics (excerpt)

Photo by the long lost Carrie Thomas

When they hate who you are,
you learn to hide how you feel.
if they see you cry,
they will go in for the kill.

He blocked my way to the bathroom door.
He said, "You like to stare? well, I will show you more."
My hands behind my back
and my face pressed against the floor.

Now, everytime a cherry falls from my tree,
I feel you inside of me,
deep inside.

I give you my heart
this broken beating thing
I give you my lips
they can kiss and they can sing
I give you my soul wrapped in a case of skin
I give you my body,
the ultimate sin.

Every time a cherry falls from my tree,
I feel you inside of me
deep inside.

Sunday=Mamma

photo by and of Carrie Thomas
On Sunday I went into the studio and worked on Mamma Don't Like No Chocolate.
I've posted the lyrics for this song, which is taking me to a very "Rock" place.

Most people categorized Sirens of Brooklyn as folk and although there will still be many elements of folk to this album, it seems to be going somewhere else. I will be back in the studio in a couple days working on some new songs.

I finished Cherry Falls and I'm not sure what to do with it.
A part of me wants to hold onto it and not release it on Sunrise, but there is another part of me that says I would be censoring myself. I find myself torn between raw emotion and palatability. I'm not sure which of these will win.

This brings me to an interesting thing that has been going on=a happier guitar version of This 2 shall pass and a calmer/slower version of Sirens of Brooklyn.
I am considering a project after sunrise that would be a reworking of songs from both Sirens and Sunrise along with some b-sides.

Podcast Feature (Part 2)

Photo by the enchanting Carrie Thomas

Homopod Radio has been a huge supporter of my music.
As previously posted, they are featuring me as their artist of the month for August.
They recently posted part 2 of their feature.

It includes a demo version of Flapjacks, a song that will be on Sunrise at the Speakeasy. Just a note. Since sending them this version of the song, I re-recorded the lead vocals and have done a lot of little things...enjoy the sketch before the real thing makes its way into the world.
Homopod's Site

The Cherry Falls

Excerpt

I was 13 years old
in a small kansas town
he said keep your eyes closed
keep your head down

3 trains of thought

There are times in which I want to lead a more glamorous life than I do, and when it comes down to it, I'm not incapable of being glamorous. It's just that the effort required to sparkle and shine like a new penny, is more than I am willing to muster.

The closest I got to glamour this weekend was being perched on top of a piano singing Tina Turner's Private Dancer, a song which is near and dear to my heart. My sister and I used to have this classic album on vinyl. We would sing at the top of our lungs into hairbrushes and dance around the house. Why my mother ever thought this was a good idea, I'll never know.

After the Kitt and Kaboodle show, I went out with my friend Jason and his hubby Simon. We found ourselves in a crowded bar full of attractive well groomed individuals, yet I was bored out of my mind. I found that all I really wanted was to be able to interact with my friends without having to endure the combined chattering of so many people. I guess also, when you're walking through the meat market and you don't have cold cuts on your shopping list, it all just looks so raw and unseasoned.


On Saturday went back into the studio for the first time since running the final mixes for sirens of Brooklyn. I recorded the first track for my next album, title still to be decided. The result was kind of peculiar and baeutiful. This track is very much rooted in the African Spritual with my mind glued to the rejection of technology. How contradictory to then write about it in a blog. Yes, I know, my first album hasn't even been released and I'm onto the next thing. This new project, which is floating around in my head will include some songs which aren't even written yet.

Some of my other songs have been giving me grief. I didn't allow them to be on Sirens and they're getting nervous about not making the cut this time. I have assured them that they will have their days in the sun. I may have to appease a few of the more nagging ones by letting them have their b-side glory on a possible EP. My lips are sealed though. I'm not going to say what's coming next. There are three trains of thought going on right now. It's almost impossible to say which will pull into the station first.

My Water Just Broke

I have finished recording the album!!!

I feel proud of myself having written, performed, produced, and financed every track on the album. It really does feel like a piece of me and an accomplishment.

There were times when I didn't know what to do with songs, whether to keep them, rework them, or scrap them altogether. There are songs that didn't make the album. Something like 20 tracks were recorded in various forms in the process. B-Sides?

What I found most interesting when going through the tracks was that 4 of them including the title track hadn't even been written when I started recording the album.

(Sirens of Brooklyn, Follow Me Home, Fishnet Sailor and Before You go)

It felt so strange running the final mixes, to be commiting to something so final. I don't ever really consider anything final. It can always be reworked, improved, expanded or condensed.

Next up...mastering and artwork....
I've chosen photos from a selection of shots taken by the very talented Carrie Thomas.

Graphic design is being done by the Joe Velasquez who I worked with on the website.

I've been warned of post-pardom depression. I must keep myself busy and tend to the baby when it comes.

Now, I can feel the contractions taking over my body like convulsions...back to giving birth.

Photo Credit- Carrie Thomas

I bought the siren a pair of steel toed boots

I know what it is like to sing
someone towards me knowing that there are sharp rocks in the water between.
There is beauty in destruction. There is deep loneliness when you live on an island.

I can't help but sing. It is my infatuation. I would never want to wreck a ship. I can't stop it. No matter how hard I try, it possesses me and moves my limbs with puppet strings. I have no will to reach for scissors. I can't cut myself free. I must sing, knowing the consequences.

I bought my siren a pair of steel-toed boots because she asked me for them. She was a delicate slow child who loved to sit by the water for hours just staring at the waves, documenting the amount of froth each one produced. I envied her movements, like sap in the autumn. I tried to mimic them, but I was never successful.

I am too frantic and I want her to join me in my unsteadiness, so I bought her a pair of steel toed boots. They have sped her up and she wants to rock and roll. She wants pyrotechnics and reflective ribbons in her hair. I didn't know she had it in her. Who knew a girl who normally goes barefoot could take such a quick liking to leather and metal and malice?

The Siren

Don't ask the question.
You won't like the answer you get.
Just change your direction
or you're gonna hit.

cuz I am the siren
that pulls you into the rocks
and you are the sailor
who can't see the land up ahead.
You're tossed on a sea of my thoughts
pulling you closer
closer and closer

Just try to be patient.
Please, wait for the dawn.
Just wait til the sun hits the water.
When the sun hits the water,
I'll be gone.
I'll be gone, so gone.

Cuz I am the siren
that pulls you into the rocks
and you are the sailor
who can't see the land up ahead.
You're tossed on a sea of my thoughts
pulling you closer
closer and closer.

I don't know why I go walking at night
calling your name to the open sea.
You just come closer and closer
please don't listen to me.
I'm alone on this island
calling your name.

I'm the siren.
I'm the siren.
I'm the siren.

'The Siren' © 2000-06 Robert German

Any similarity to situations or individuals real, fictional or implied to be real or fictional is really fictional and purely the fabrication of the author's very unspecific imagination. No conclusions, facts, concepts, or opinions about individuals and/or situations real, fictional or implied to be real or fictional should be based upon the content of this rant.