Confessions of a Pop Fan

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

AREN'T I BETTER THAN A BOY WHO CAN'T READ?

Dear Confessors, I can't express to you the level of my excitement.

Tonight was the beginning of the recording of "Love the Way You Love," Like A Dog's song from the comic book of the same name. Lara Michell and I wrote the tune several months ago and have had a demo of it she did on garage band, but we've been waiting for things to line up so we could record the full version for release with the second volume of the comic. It's going to be in that issue when Tristan writes the song and performs it for the first time.

We're set up in a studio in NE Portland, and we're working with producer John Askew. Many of you may know John from his work with his band Tracker, who did the soundtrack to Craig Thompson's graphic novel, Blankets. John was an awesome find, coming to us through his work on the second album by one of Lara's bands, Dirty Martini. He totally understands comics, as well as the musical reference points we gave him (Phil Spector, the Smiths, shoegazing). He was into the concept that we would be covering the song as if it was a pre-existing track by a real band, and his input is really bringing it together. He's also playing bass.

John brought in a drummer for the session, and it was quite a surprise. I actually knew the guy from the days we worked in duelling record stores on Burnside, so I was shocked to see him. His name is Michael Schorr, and he beat the skins for Death Cab for Cutie for a couple of years before deciding to take a break from touring. This is the first thing he's worked on in a good long while.

Honestly, I spent most of the time just watching and listening. It was amazing to hear the three musicians sit down and launch into the song with little preamble. They'd all done their homework. Working out all the kinks in about an hour, John then put down a click track and had Lara record a scratch vocal. Sometimes, listening to them talk was like hearing a foreign language, the terminology was flying fast and loose. But when they were playing and everything was coming together, I swear it was like the end of a cheeseball movie where all the band memebers look at one another and smile. We were having such a great time!

Tomorrow we return to the studio and record the whole thing for real.

In other Love the Way You Love news, Chris Tamarri has given us a very thoughtful and engaging review for his Crisis/Boring Change blog. Read it here. SAMPLE: "More than anything, it reminded me of all those Billy Wilder/I.A.L. Diamond films where our hero and his objet d'coeur are too timid to break out of their own patterns to introduce a new, undeniably desired and predictably positive element into their own lives, where they're too scared of the change that new and potentially lasting love brings. That resonance could be because those pictures were explicit touchstones for writer Jamie Rich or because they're favorites of mine. Love the Way You Love seems open and classically minded enough that it could remind every reader of his favorite romance, whatever that might be and wherever from."

Chris earns points for digging up the Suede lyrics on his own; I'll make that boy popular with the other kids yet!

Current Soundtrack: The Walker Bros., The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine: The Very Best...

Current Mood: giddy