The idea to challenge myself by recording a new song every week of January 2023 (for RAW impressions) came on a late December night 2022 during my ritual end-of-year regret and resolution fest. Those late-night, away-on-vacation, life-suspended feelings that the holidays can bring. The picture above is from Provincetown, MA where my family had convened for our Christmas/New Year’s celebration.
Adelle and I had been doing the podcast for over a month, we started with no particular goal other than to start doing something, anything, and see how it evolved. I definitely wanted to make soundscapes and lean heavily on my vintage analog ‘lo-fi’ gear to provide a counterpoint to the hi-fi capture of our voices. I thought that sharing new songs would be the logical next step now that I had acclimated to the work of creating podcasts every week.
Once I was back home with my stuff and had the month of January stretching before me, I took up the challenge.
Weirdly, I achieved my goal. I say ‘weirdly’ because this seemed like a lot to ask of myself. My only guideline was keeping the songs at the average length of a hit song in the year of my birth, 1966: 2 minutes and 30 seconds (I made that up, songs were short then, that’s all I know). Can I Get To You was recorded starting on January 2nd and completed for inclusion on RAW impressions MiniMusicMonday 6, recorded, fittingly, on January 6th (released on the 9th).
Can I Get To You sounds like my brain at 3 am. I entered this thinking I’d be singing nonsense and writing tossed-off tunes at first because the self-imposed time constraint seemed to preclude ‘serious’ work. On my last solo LP, Reason To Live, I let the songs write themselves and be captured at a relatively leisurely pace. But since I’ve been working daily on the podcast doing toy-commercial recreations, covers and variations on our theme song, I was quicker to whip Can I Get To You into a pleasing layered fog than expected.
I love the murk y’all, I just do.
I don’t remember what I did technically, I never do and never take notes once the recording starts. I went between my cassette 4-track, my digital set-up, back to cassette, and then back to digital. Inconsistent tape speeds and my haphazard, impulsive, approach made the final mixing of the song a matter of directing the flow with subtle volume adjustments and radical editing. It was a lot of fun and surprisingly did not make me into a cranky recluse or an absent father. I was able to balance the messy-mad-pseudo-scientist in me and still drive for school drop-offs, clean the kitchen, and carry on conversations (actually you’d have to ask Adelle if that was really the case).
The lyrics start in a goofy way (‘goggled-on’?), I didn’t have any aspirations beyond words that felt good to sing but soon I was plumbing the depths of my night thoughts for those too. They may not be the best I’ve written but I know what they mean and it’s real. It’s tough realizing that sometimes you can’t help someone beyond trying to understand what they are going through.
I spent some time remixing Can I Get To You for the Barlow Family General audience, I had only listened once since I finished it, so, with fresher ears, I had some ideas. If you have any questions regarding anything lemme know. Feel free to give tips, pointers, and observations (actually, be kind, and gentle and tell me I’m good). This is a work in progress. The goal is a physical release sometime in the future or maybe it’s just another step I took. Here’s the song. Thanks for reading!