Whether you celebrate President’s Day, Presidents’ Day, or President’s Day, for me it was a day off from my day job and an opportunity to head up to Conway to do some more work on my forthcoming record. Dave Chalfant and I worked on adding new elements to a few songs that I recorded as Dining Room Demos, and he added some bass parts to Fourth Floor.

It was fun times.

Fourth Floor is sounding particularly amazing since its been graced with fantastic musicians adding their stamp to it. I mean, just look at this:

Me – Piano and Lead Voice
Aric Bieganek – Drums, Glockenspiel, Background Voice
Rebekah Dutkiewicz – Cello, Background Voice
Matthew Carefully – Banjo, Mandolin, Background Voice
Dave Chalfant – Bass

I’ll be posting a track from my upcoming record sometime soon… maybe this one. Also I may have a name for this thing. More about that later.

Nearly hurricane-strength winds and heavy rain and fog couldn’t keep me from heading up to Conway Rock City to work on a couple songs for the new record.  I sang some vocals on Fight or Flight and The Spires and did some organ tracks also. And of course, like a good New Englander, I had a “how about this crazy weather” discussion with Dave.

It was some of the weirdest weather we’ve experienced in awhile around here. By most accounts, it felt like a late summer storm, except we’re in the heart of winter. Driving up to Conway in the dense fog was a little challenging, since Sackamusic is in the middle of the woods on narrow country roads.

I’m looking forward to heading back up to the studio again really soon. Working with Dave Chalfant has been a great experience.

Oh! – We were doing some brainstorming, and I think I may wind up using some components of “Salt”, the ‘prepared piano’ song I recently recorded last week. Really excited.

This past Friday, my old friend Ethan Tufts was in town. After having some good lunch at Local Burger in Northampton, we headed up to Sackamusic in Conway Rock City. Ethan added some great guitar parts to Fourth Floor and Pulverized.

Me, Ethan, and our friend Bill Belina started our first band back in 1989 when we were in middle school. All we had at the time were two keyboards and drums. I aspired to be the next ‘guy from Tears For Fears’ or maybe Phil Collins with a mullet. We played music in Bill’s dad’s basement, which was lined with polka records and wood paneling. We wrote tons of songs and learned how to be a band. Gradually Bill and Ethan learned other instruments and I learned how to play keys. A couple decades have gone by, and we’ve all played in various bands, grew up, etc.

Now Ethan lives in Los Angeles, has a record label, and makes awesome music asState Shirt. He manages to come home a few times a year to visit with family and friends, and we seem to get together and collaborate on music things all these years later. It’s nice to have him be a part of this record.

Yesterday I drove up to Sackamusic in Conway to spend some time taking some inventory of the songs I’ve recorded so far for the upcoming record. I’m happy to report that things are sounding like they’re really coming together!

I recorded new lead vocal tracks for Mirror and Fourth Floor, and Dave added some bass to Mirror. I tried a vocal track for The Gatekeeper also, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. I’m trying hard to capture the magic of the original live demo I made in my dining room. Maybe I should just use that version on the record. We’ll see.

I didn’t bring a camera with me, but here are some pictures I took with my cell: