Note and Flame EP (2019)

One day when I was in a transitional state between jobs — I’d accepted a new job while I was still working at the old one — I set up my iMac on the kitchen table and brought my recording equipment with it. I was alone in the house and had never recorded in the kitchen, so I thought I’d give it a try. I liked the acoustics in the space. The wood floors and size of the room created a warm and full sound.

After setting up, I sat down with my guitar and immediately started strumming something that I liked. After singing a few words that I liked, and feeling really inspired, I decided to stop and simply hit record and see what I could capture while the inspiration was hot.

This 14+ minute song is what followed. It’s a song suite, because other than the basic chords and idea of a melody, there was no plan. You can even hear me set down the pick after the first section is done, almost like I was telling myself that I was done. But then I waited and decided to keep playing.

The strange production on the song comes from me layering the exact same track over itself with an experimenntal filter in GarageBand. After I listened to the song a bunch after that first day, I came up with some lyrics for the second section, which I overdubbed the next day. I got creative with how I sang them, stretching my microphone as far as it would go, singing throughout the kitchen. That’s what gives those vocals a strange and distant quality at points. It adds depth.

I love this song. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done and more than that, it captures the feeling of intense inspiration, because I was literally making it up on the spot! It’s like channeling the holy spirit.