Sweden 2010, Day 5

D.O.N.E.! This day was by far the hardest studio day. The song was one I had been dreading because the subject matter breaks my heart. Thankfully it is a situation I have never had to deal with, but I know some who HAVE been there, and however they choose to react kills them a little either way. I was shaking and crying even just trying to prepare for it. I had to go through eleven years of torment, grief, acceptance, and forgiveness, in the space of about an hour, to get my head and heart in the place to deliver this song. "Mr. Black" had an incredibly hard time with this one too.

After we finished this song, we had to get out and shake it off. When we started our walk I could feel dark clouds squatting over my head, ready to piss depression on me. Eventually, right around the time we hit the cow pasture on the way to the beach, they began to lift. The weather was quite warm there, and the sea was calm and grey. Once again we took a nap on the old ramshackle dock, and when we woke up, both of us actually felt drunk. Relief? Exhaustion? We stumbled back to the studio and dove right into the final song of the record. We were both a bit irritable and antsy; we caught the scent of completion like sharks to blood and went for it with equal frenzy. Yet, somehow, when it was finished, it was a bit anti-climactic. Like, yeah; we're done. Want lunch? As the rest of the day progressed, it began to truly sink in, the scope of what we have accomplished in such a short time.

"Mr. Black" is adamant that no whisper of these songs hits public ears until they are mixed, mastered, and ready to go. So in somber ceremonial fashion, I deleted all reference to the songs, demos, and lyrics, off my hard drive and my Sansa mp3 player. It's as though they never existed. Now I must put them from my mind and wait, like everyone else. The wait should not be long... "Mr. Black" is taking much of he next few months off, with the goal of completing arrangements and mixing by the end of the year. If all goes well, we should see it released sometime in early 2011. If the rest of it turns out as well as the first single, which I recorded 3 years ago, it will be a stunning work of musical art. And while of course we would like to see it hit, if at the very least it can touch the lives of those who listen to it, we will have success.

Hot DAMN did we need to blow off some steam last night!!! We popped popcorn, drank a couple of beers, and watched a movie that started well and ended horribly. How Kieffer Sutherland can be such a great actor trapped into such a shitty movie as "Mirrors" was, I will never understand. A dereliction of directing maybe? Still, it was just spooky enough to get us out of the recording headspace.

So today, we are shooting footage for music videos. The videos will be very stylized and thematic, so I am shooting against a green screen and Mr. Black won't tell even ME what will be added into the shot later! This should be a huge surprise for me when I see it next year, right along with the rest of you. I guess lighting takes the longest, but once that is done it should go pretty fast. We'll shoot for 3 or 4 songs.

All in all, I am tired but very happy. I am also really missing my friends and family back in San Diego... special shoults out to Jackson, Yuki, June, Jeff, and my kitties, and of course my Greg. Mom and Pop in Florida too... you guys would be so proud of me!

Love to you all from Jörlanda Sweden!