This page is currently at the
tailor's, as it does not yet fit the site's new dress code.
from the liner
notes:
I'm not sure when I first became aware of these songs wanting to
finally be recorded, but they must have been waiting nearby for a few
months. Certainly they were far away until then. And when we finished
mixing the live album from the Maria
tour so quickly, Teenagermade its desire to be known known. I wrote my
first song when I was 16 for an english class. It got a low mark for
being too sweet. (pause). Whatever. And the original recording you
hear was done in the 1st blush of my excitement at being able to
create my own harmonies. Bouncing back and forth between 2 cheap tape
recorders. The little room I rented was on a hill with a stoplight.
You can hear the trucks gearing up and down. In recording these songs
as a fresh 40 year old being, I found that I went right back into the
same guitar playing, piano playing, harmonies, and simple vocalizing
of the times when I wrote and played these songs. Nothing extra was
needed, wanted. The paths to each of these songs were so
well-traveled that there was little room for deviation. I recorded
(not sequenced) them in a chronological order. Starting with the song
to my father. "Broken Birds". Hearing them all in a new light.
Knowing so well the journey I've followed since then. Trying to say
certain things more and more clearly, as my mind's eye focuses, looks
away from certain ways of seeing, then returns.
It was curious to hear this young girl's words, what she was moved to
speak about, what she allowed or didn't allow herself to say. In some
ways, I felt so far away from her, almost more familiar with the
teenager of today, all the angst, confusion, unaccountable ecstasy,
anger and lack of ethical maps. I had all the same things, I guess,
but those were different times. And it was as important or
unimportant as ever to fit in or not fit in. I can hear in my voice
when I couldn't quite sing the words from long ago, although I was
quite faithful, hardly changing any. But some I can hear getting
stuck in my craw, so to speak.
And it was strange, in mixing, to hear a song with so little sonic
stimulation. So used are we to arrangements that constantly change,
new things always coming in to make sure we stay interested. Fast cut
music. Fast cut videos. Fast cut times. So to hear these pieces stand
on their own, relying solely on the song structure, a few harmonies,
and the dynamics of the voice and instrument for development, was
strange. They seemed so flat and linear at first. Like nothing was
happening. And then, I guess I got used to it, became comfortable
with it, and then fell in love with the solitude and purity of it.
And then I couldn't bear to have anything extra. Reminding me once
again that we have many ways of hearing. And to exercise these ways
of listening (seeing, feeling, etc.) is to exercise keeping our
beings as wide and adventurous as we are meant to be. Hmmm...
Credits
musicians:
Jane - vocals, guitar, piano
Rebecca Campbell - vocals
Peter Kiesewalter - accordion
engineered and mixed by David Travers-Smith
recorded and mixed at Reaction Studios, Toronto, Canada
ass't engineer Jeff Elliot
mastered by Greg Calbi, Masterdisk, NY
art direction, design & layout by A Man Called Wrycraft