Maestria New-Yorkaise
What can we expect from the new album ?
You can expect to be blown away! No, that sounds pompous. Really, though,
we're extremely happy with it. In general, the new one (titled "The Mirrors and
Uncle Sam") is much more developed than the songs on the EP. I guess the first
thing people will notice is that it sounds fuller, and that's partly because TJ
and John are members of the band now. So it's naturally going to feel less like
your listen to a solo project, which is fine by me, because they're both awesome
musicians who bring something special to the songs without ever stepping on my
toes. TJ is a phenomenal drummer, one of the best I've ever heard. I think
people are going to be very impressed at his musical sensitivity, at how he
highlights other parts of the song. It's panache. A lot of people ask him
after shows if he likes jazz; it's that kind of thing. And John is really a
gifted bass player, which is funny because he's only recently picked up the
bass. His basslines are really great at creating countermelodies that offer
something important to the songs.
There are still plenty of very stripped down songs that focus on the acoustic
guitar and voice, but now it's only one side of it. Now we're as comfortable
going there as we are in creating a song that gives horns and violins the
spotlight, or to a song that puts the emphasis on the beat and the organ. We're
developing the ability to give the songs life in different ways, which is a good
thing. Something that we talk about a lot amongst the three of us is how it
ultimately comes down to determining what the song wants, because they'll tell
you if you listen carefully.
The other thing about the new record that I'm proud of is that I think my vocals
and my lyrics are much stronger than on the EP. I think it's a big step in my
own development, in my ability to articulate myself. When we were trying to
figure out what to name the album, we realized that the title of one of the
songs ("The Mirrors and Uncle Sam") kind of hit the nail on the head; a lot,
though not all, of the songs are about the interaction of politics on a variety
of levels with personal life. Not overwhelmingly so, I mean they're not
rallying cries in a Rage Against the Machine sense. They're very subtle. But
if you dig a little deeper, beyond the understanding of the songs as, for
example, portraits of an abandoned town or character sketches of cowboys who got
lost in New York, I think there's a bigger picture there. Naming the album "The
Mirrors and Uncle Sam" is a way of trying to acknowledge that, and of trying to
point listeners in the right direction.
chroniques de Maestro Echoplex
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