Big MT

The end of the world…or the end of the civilized world anyway. Dusty, degraded, batteries almost drained. Plastic faded and cracked. All the trappings of modern culture laid equal by decay and age. Cheery stuff, I know, but maybe not entirely pessimistic – even in the wasteland, there are bright spots. Flowers grow up through the pavement, animals nest in your old Honda Civic, you focus on the immediacy of life.

Dan lays down the bass line for "Long for Shipwrecks"

That’s the starting point for our new collection of songs, “Big MT”, my think-piece on modernity and decay.

I don’t actually wish for the downfall of our culture, I love TV and The Whopper® too much, and I doubt I have the woodsman skills to make it in the madmax future I am picturing. I am fed up with it though. It’s constant and nagging. It’s a dull ache.

It’s really not direct imagery that I’m going for here either, it’s more about seeing it all fall apart in your life, realizing those elements that stay after the rest is burned away, and knowing what is truly important. Topical for most folks these days.

I don’t think it is any different than any other period in history…I am just feeling it acutely these days:

My job sucks. I lost my house. Bills pile up. It’s hard to stay optimistic.

Part of me craves an end to pop idolatry and junk culture for sure. Part of me fears I’m missing out on it. Part of me fears it for the sake of my son. I suppose these are natural enough feelings for a new father on the edge of so many places:  the middle class, politics, on the edge of pop culture.

listening back to tracks with Brandon and Kurt

I think a lot of people feel on the edge like me these days, which is what brought me to  “Big MT” in the first place.

return to the upright, and blisters

It feels hollow out there. Expansive, and without direction or purpose. I am hopeful for the sake of my sanity and family, but am weary of what is missing. Not what is lost, mind you,  but for what is missing.

I am reaching for something that is not there. With every idle strum, pulsing drone, and echoing pad. It’s the big empty I am swimming in.

RECORDING THE SONGS:

We’ve taken a different approach this time around, and are doing all of the tracking and preliminary recording ourselves, and at this point, we are almost there – just a few odds and ends to drop in, and the vocals.

Each group of songs is an evolution for us. We push out the corners of what we write as a group. We add new instruments. It’s the same here: banjo and upright, my ancient broken B200 wheezing it’s way into a song, pedal steel where I didn’t think it would go…it’s been fun and life affirming to have so much energy be breathed into these songs.

Brandon tunes up the banjo for "woods pretty"

This record is important to me for a lot of reasons, I hope that when it is finished it will be important to you too.

I’ve dropped in the scratch demo of one of the 1st songs that starting me thinking about all this, “Liberty Bell”. I’ll get around to giving all the details on each song after we’ve got the finished product, but I wanted to give you a little something for reading through all this