To avoid future legal entanglements with Mark Griffin, my manager con-artist … I couldn’t release the album for sale before August 1st.
So here it is!
http://chrisfrasco.bandcamp.com
I know, I know … it’s not free.
But … a year of my life, 1500+ hours, and more money than I’m willing to admit went into these songs. I recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered them myself.
I hope you find that level of commitment worth $7.00 <3
In a fit of absolute panic, I told Joe Moser that this album would never be done in time. He said, “You’ll rally at the absolute last minute and get it done. That’s what you always do.”
He was right. That’s what I did.
It’s over. My ears hurt like they’ve never hurt before. But I think it came out really good!!
Gigantic thanks to Joe P, Chris Enright, Joe Moser, Kevin Keller, Emily Pearsons, Allie Murphy … and of course, Esme.
See you all tomorrow. ;)
This feeling is too familiar.
Everything’s completely done and in place… except my part. Now I’m just flailing chaotically towards a deadline that can’t be broken, pushed back, or ignored.
The same exact thing happened with In Light and Shadow. The same miserable set of spiraling emotions: fear, doubt, self-loathing. So many nights there was opportunity to get work done, but I didn’t. Now, everything has to be finished and finalized in one weekend.
I take solace in one thing: I listened to my final mixes from the first album just a few hours after barely hitting that deadline, and thought they had come out incredible…. what I already have for Damage makes that album sound like a worn cassette tape.
I’m in a frenzy. See you at The Bitter End.
14.5 days to go….
It’s an overwhelming sense of peace and pride to suddenly realize the album as one single work of art, rather than just a collection of songs. The whole thing finally congealed in my mind last night. I drove up and down the highways of NY, CT, and MA all night listening to my latest progress.
The raw tracks of the latest songs are so crisp and gorgeous that I’m scared to mix them. My goal is to bring everything to commercial volume while changing the tone and clarity as little as possible.
I’m still totally over-scrutinizing every nuance of my vocal takes. I can’t stop. It’s so counter-productive, self-destructive, and other hyphenated terms as well. But the tracking process is quickly coming to a close.
In the early stages of recording this album, I was surprised at how few guitar-related showoff moments there seemed to be. Listening last night, I found that my ego and self-indulgence had somehow snuck in. That being said, for every over-the-top instance, there’s at least 5 instances of really tasteful and musical layering.
I really think (and hope) that you’re all going to genuinely enjoy this music. :)
Frasco
19 days to go… I leave for Ireland tomorrow.
Mentally, I’m a mess. I feel totally on track, but completely fucked all at once.
The truth is that I’m in good shape. Most of the songs really just need final vocals, some harmonies, and little overdub elements. Unless I’m having a particularly bad night, I can usually get a final lead vocal done in a couple of hours. So, that’s very doable.
When you self-produce, you quickly grow to despise every little idiosyncrasy about yourself. As the singer, songwriter, guitarist, bassist, and hand percussionist … it leaves me with a lot to hate.
I find myself striving for absolute vocal perfection, which is just unrealistic. My favorite singers are Adam Duritz, Ryan Adams, Jakob Dylan, and Ben Folds. None of those guys are perfect - Duritz’s early days even border on bad - but they all give great, emotional performances. When I buckle down and obsess about my technique, I wind up with these robotic takes of pristinely executed pitch. I find that I enjoy listening to my bullshit scratch vocals better than those. So, going forward, I’m striving for the middle ground between technique and emotion.
In closing, I’m pretty psyched! This is going to be a really fun album.
22 days to go…
Shit!! I haven’t paid my rent yet!! Time to write a check.
I spent most of yesterday tracking “Ugly,” one of the most candid songs on this album. I didn’t scratch the vocals out beforehand, I just recorded it in the key I wrote it in. I have this habit of writing songs too low for performance… and for some reason that didn’t occur to me until I finally did a quick vocal take last night. So, my task today is to make sure I can give a convincing vocal performance in this key. Otherwise, I’ll be starting over. Which wouldn’t be a tragedy, but I really liked the instrumental sounds/performances I captured yesterday.
Emily Pearsons, my favorite photographer, is coming to Brooklyn tonight!! She did all the photography on In Light and Shadow and I’m pumped to be working with her again on this album. Album cover soon to come!! :)
