Eight of the ten tracks now have “one take wonder” scratch vocals down, enough rambling chaos to at least map final lyric and melody revisions against. I also laid down some backing vocals to prepare for how the final mixes might sound since all of those lovely frequencies (especially vocals and cello) are going to rub elbows in a big way so will need some separation and layering to find their place in the mix.

In terms of process, it’s a mix of how I used to work and the new project approach … in other words, rather than finding a more or less complete set of words and adapting them to a song in progress, I’m writing lots of thoughts, ideas, titles, choruses, strings of consciousness ideas and then plucking ideas from there to vamp on on the tracks. An idea usually shakes out pretty quickly, which then requires writing full lyrics around that idea. Once you get into the swing of it it’s intimidating but fun at the same time…

It felt like a productive week, accordingly and for me a pretty big milestone.

My Anecdote.

I had to cut a 150′ electrical trench to re-wire the power to my studio outbuilding. I rented a monster trenching machine. It did about 130 feet in 30 minutes. The remaining 20 feet took the rest of the day by hand. The same proportion lies true with the lyrics: 80-90% of them came quickly, but those final finesse lines and words are agonizingly slow… The final 20% will take 80% of the lyrical effort.

Thank you for listening to my whining.