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Bob Elliott
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3/4/2009 11:56:00 PM
She Said, "It's Perfect"
Found my wife laying in bed with the computer next to her last night. Candle's burning and she's got Bon Iver's album "To Emma, Forever Ago" playing.
I lay with her and listen for awhile and then say, "It's nice, huh?"
She says quietly, "It's perfect."
And you know, it pretty much is. Start to finish that is a well realized piece of emotional sound. Beautiful, and it will follow me around all my life like the other albums where you could say, "It's perfect."
It was no surprise to me this album just blew up by word of mouth on the net, basically. Pretty sure he put up a few tracks on myspace and eventually the world came to listen.
Why did the world come to listen? Because it's perfect.
I wanna put out an album that has people laying around in the dim light closing their eyes to soak it in, and then have them say, "It's perfect."
I have more revelations that come to me from that album, but that's enough for now. It was a nice night, things got pretty lovey. It's perfect.
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Kevin White
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3/5/2009 12:26:19 AM
---- Updated 3/5/2009 12:29:33 AM
Interesting ideas, Bob.
One of the things we lack working on our own is the ability to put together a cohesive grouping of material that conveys the mood your wife commented on.
She was caught in the "album feel" that we discussed earlier on the board here.
I tend to assemble my works in haphazard fashion ... meaning the tides and the moon determine what works I fancy, and so I'm going to work on when ... and when finished with what I'm currently working on, so goes the release.
But that's not how I'd be allowed to operate if I had a record company "handler".
They'd demand consistency and continuity to the product.
I think that that's something we aren't completely capable of developing on our own. We're artists at heart, and we're as random as our thoughts.
K-
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Kevin White
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3/5/2009 12:34:42 AM
btw ... a quick online search of the album reveals that there is more behind it than just an indie making an album.
There's a large machine selling it as of this point.
K-
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Bob Elliott
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3/5/2009 1:59:58 AM
Oh yeah, it's full blown now. Especially since NPR picked it as an album of the year kind of thing (as did many other lists). But within about a year ago he was just another guy with studio gear like you and I.
It's all just him alone. Beautiful piece of work, really.
He is working in an area I've been working in lately. Acoustic with electronics as background.
I like how he solved the snare problem. He just doesn't hardly use it, and favors nice kick drum sounds. It seems like his kicks are from a drum machine or keyboard.
That's something I'm working with right now since the kicks on my hip hop kits on the yamaha Motif (I'm starting to learn about) are just nice and rich and thick.
I like that soft heavy bassy sound, but I'm not that fond of the electronic snares and such for the most part.
But in general the clattery stuff mid range snare range stuff is a bit of a problem with a certain kind of acoustic emotional thing, and I like how he has kind of bi-passed the problem by often just only having the low fat kick. A little bit of stuff occasionally up top but not very pronounced. Then the acoustic and voice don't have to fight for space.
I don't know. He's on some of the same riddles I've been seeking out.
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Bob Elliott
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3/5/2009 2:14:19 AM
"One of the things we lack working on our own is the ability to put together a cohesive grouping of material that conveys the mood your wife commented on."
See that's the funny thing, Kev. He did it alone over three months in a cabin . His mic was an sm57. He used his brothers old drums and other little things.
And now that he's successful, he intends to continue without engineers or producers.
He had zero input from any industry. He had zero input from anyone at all other than his soul and the solitude to delve deep.
The day job certainly breaks up the continuity of the long work I would like to be doing and feel ready to be doing. I would work weeks on end with few breaks if I could.
Any of you heard this album?
Just more fuel for the fire I've felt for so long: nothing is in our way but ourselves. I can do the art I intend.
So I listened to my last album "Simple Machines" for the first time in a long time while I walked home today. I was happy that it was actually quite nice. I'd started to doubt it like I do all my finished work, but that album is pretty well realized.
Still I can just feel I have something else to bring. Just know it.
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Hop On Pop
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3/5/2009 2:34:17 AM
That Bon Iver album is something that I've been meaning to pick up but have yet to do so. What I've heard sounds excellent, though.
As to the consistent piece thing... you all know how I feel about that and how I am looking to blow that thought right the hell out of the water with my next album. Maybe it'll be something along the lines of -- so far removed from that, it brings it right back around. But probably not, I just want it to be a great collection of songs. We'll see.
As to you, Mr. Elliott:
I think that Simple Machines is a brilliant piece of work. And it is a level of quality that I aspire to, myself. The arrangements are beautiful, and your voice is not only an outstanding instrument in and of itself, but you know how to record your own voice. That's something that a lot of folks (including myself) have a hard time doing. Probably the toughest thing. But you nailed it.
Maybe the album after this one, I'll have found my one, singular voice and be able to put together a cohesive whole.
Again... we'll see.
Great topic for us all to ponder.
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3/5/2009 2:47:38 AM
Musical ambition imo doesn't strive directly for perfection but rather mines for magic, a moment at a time.
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Chris Mahon
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3/5/2009 6:01:59 PM
Great topic here. The album in question is indeed a rare find, gentle and desperate, straight from the heart, but recorded with great empathy for the songs. Which for me is the great challenge of recording.
It is a great gift to have discovered one's voice, in the larger sense. Cleary Bon Iver (or whatever his real name is) has. But he might never have had to look, as for some it is there from the beginning. Meanwhile, I'll keep looking for mine ....
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Steve Ison
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3/5/2009 10:39:59 PM
Much as i wanted to love Bon Ivers stuff from your inspirational thoughts about him Bob and especially hearing the story how he did it....I didn't
I know from a modern listening perspective i'm really in a minority for being an acoustic fan, yet not digging alot of solo acoustic stuff with excellent singers who emote well and are obviously sincere-It seems thats what people really want now..
I want the inspired chord change,the really intuitive melodies that stick in your brain and inventive songwriting-the Bowies,Beatles,Nick Drake,early Neil Young etc..Its hard to describe-but i know what i mean..
His music just dosn't feed me what i want unfortunately..
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Kevin White
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3/5/2009 11:19:05 PM
You aren't alone in those thoughts, Steve. Mine closely mirrored yours.
He does have a very unique, earnest sound to his vocal though.
Kev-
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Chris Mahon
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3/5/2009 11:41:46 PM
For me it's often one moment in a song that defines it, and provides the vital "food" that Steve was referring to. Or one subtle shift in vocal phrasing. Or the sheer desperation and yearning of spirit in the voice. Maybe I appreciate this album (and Pink Moon, also) because I can relate to those emotions so readily. Who knows. I just know I like it.
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Bob Elliott
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3/6/2009 3:24:43 AM
Knock it off, Steve, or you're gonna make me send you a damn copy...
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Lars Mars
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3/6/2009 5:39:35 AM
Two words I've never heard out of my wife in bed: "It's perfect."
Ah well.
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Bob Elliott
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3/6/2009 6:12:35 AM
Yeah Baby,
That was next...another good thing the album's for...
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