failure-diary-6

read part 2 of Failure's in-studio diary for 'The Heart Is A Monster' +++ tour dates announced

Failure

Failure‘s first album in 19 years, The Heart Is A Monster, comes out June 30 via INresidence (pre-order), and today we continue rolling out the band’s in-studio diary they kept of the recording process. We already posted part 1 HERE, and part 2, written by Greg Edwards (also of post-Failure band Autolux), can be read below.

Failure also announced more summer tour dates today, though nothing in NYC at the moment. Those dates are listed below too.

Failure

Preloaded and Unbiased (Sequencing “The Heart Is A Monster”), by Greg Edwards

If you harbor the outmoded belief that the order in which a group of songs unfolds is just as important as the unfolding of each song individually– part to part, part to whole–then sequencing a record becomes an integral ongoing process that starts as soon as the first song is written and doesn’t end until you know with certainty that the order you have decided upon is best, above all others. A meticulously considered sequence, in theory, allows the control of information– emotional, sonic, lyrical– so that the songs, their themes, and their dynamic can be revealed to the listener in a way that evokes a narrative of sound-based mood as well as ideas.

Considering how Failure creates a record– one song at a time, writing what the album “needs” as we go– it could be argued that the sequence is on our minds as we write. And to a certain extent that is true.

The anxiety of an order hovers over the whole process.

Often times bookends will present themselves– i.e. “That one’s definitely first and there’s no other way to end the record than with that song…” But I find that no matter how immutable anything seemed during the process, once the songs are all recorded and mixed and you sit down to put them together you must throw away all preconceptions and try anything and everything until the “right” sequence emerges.

In contrast to our other records, with The Heart Is A Monster I was creating and recording all the connective instrumentals as I was beginning to put the song order together. So you could say that the segues were tailor made to this album specifically to make this group of songs flow and breathe while reinforcing certain moods–almost like sonic footnotes expanding on the emotions from the songs. To use a cinematic analogy, if the songs are action or dialogue scenes between characters then the segues are wide meditative landscape shots, creating space and giving perspective.

At this same time Ken was on the other side of a thick slab of glass mixing the songs. So every few hours I would download his latest mix and slot this version into the working sequence.

Once it became clear that “Hot Traveler” would have to be first, I began creating layers for an intro or prelude using a monophonic analogue synthesizer that would get the listener’s ears up, if not their backs too. This intro piece that leads into “Hot Traveler” is called Segue 4, picking up where Segues 1, 2, and 3 left off from Fantastic Planet. An approaching train horn, while the engine is still a mile out.

I say, “have to be first” about “Hot Traveler” because deciding on the first song is always a pain in my ass. To have to commit to the first thing people will hear really bums me out– rarely will there ever be a song that can reliably stand, in a matter of moments, for a whole album. If I could first inject a serum into the listener’s brain that gave an instant sense of the emotional and dynamic scope of the entire album, then I would feel more assured that the first song wasn’t going to give you the wrong idea.

I had this same concern with “Let It Drip” from Magnified and to an even greater degree with “Saturday Savior” from Fantastic Planet. Yet in all three cases I realized, at the very least, there was no other conceivably better place for them. (I don’t include Comfort in this discussion because we really hadn’t become obsessive about the importance of song order at that point.)

After two days of banging my head against the sequence puzzle I ended up with an order I could justify as being close to right. “Rationalizing the obscene into the palatable”, to quote House of Cards. (The artistic and political process, apparently, have more in common than any artist would ever want to admit.)

“Hot Traveler” was first. I “Can See Houses” was last. Beyond that I wasn’t sure of anything. But I went ahead and sent this rough sequence to Ken and Kellii and they, of course, after one listen thought it was the immaculate conception of all sequences, congratulated me on my incontrovertible resolution to this part of the process and we all went to the Korean spa together…

No. That’s not quite how it happened. Instead, they seemed to take issue with every song transition I found perfect and precious, and even more distressing, in a lot of cases I agreed with them. Actually, the reality is that they probably only had one or two moderately stated concerns, but to me it was the destruction of an empire from the first objection.

Collaboration often takes the anatomy of some kind of crisis where there are a group of people on the ground and one person 30 floors up in a window looking down. The person up high can see the entire picture, can formulate an effective plan of action, and can see how heroically and wrong-headed the people on the ground are acting. The people on the ground “in the shit” have their hands and minds full with what’s in front of them. They can’t see what’s going on two blocks away, but their truth is no less valid and neither is their response to the asshole shouting theories from up in the building.

In terms of the sequence, I had started out as a person on the ground wrangling these songs into shape, but once I had a certain familiarity and perceived knowledge of the problem I had morphed into the guy up in the building. And even though I may have believed that Ken and Kellii had it wrong on some counts, I knew I had to reconsider and weigh their concerns, because the perspective from the ground will always share more in common with a listener’s first experience, whereas the view from above is more similar to the sense of a record when you have listened to it tens of times over the course of months or years. It’s the measured combination of these two viewpoints that I should be looking for, and so I had to listen for my and the album’s own good.

I know from experience that my choices tend to weather well in the long run but sometimes are lacking in the immediate gratification department. Ken and Kellii had the knowledge of innocence, of not having had their brains in claustrophobic intimacy with every beginning and end of every song for the last 48 hours, and that was a priceless insight to me at that point.

Based on their comments I made adjustments, finished recording the segues, and assembled what I thought would be the final sequence.

If I was operating off any philosophy of song order, it was based on a trend in some of my favorite albums to have a moody, slower track for the second track. It seemed to me like a way of immediately giving a sense of scope, especially if the first track had a heavy monolithic immediateness. My theory was built on a growing list of examples: Led Zeppelin III— Immigrant Song into Friends, OK Computer— Airbag into Paranoid Android, Revolver— Taxman into Eleanor Rigby, Rumors— Second Hand News into Dreams, Dark Side Of The Moon— Speak to Me/ Breathe into On The Run.

My sequence as it stood followed this logic with “Hot Traveler” followed by “Snow Angel”, a moody slower acoustic song. But when I got into the room with Ken, for what I thought would be mere finalizing of the break length between songs, he informed me that he thought the number two slot was too soon for a song like “Snow Angel”…. Yes, I said, Of course it is, that’s why it works, let’s pull them into something thicker, more subterranean rather than maintaining momentum and bouncing them along the surface. Let’s give them the range. But Ken was unconvinced.

This exchange led to the most unpleasant tense conflict of the entire recording process, and relative to our past it was almost enjoyable and quickly resolved like gentleman– we both became 5 year olds for about 2 minutes and somehow miraculously found a common ground on which to move forward. We brought “A.M. Amnesia” into the number two spot and moved “Snow Angel” one back.

For me, this had three ramifications. 1) I lost my perfect song one to song two formula. 2) “A.M. Amnesia” was moved forward out of it’s position following “Petting The Carpet” (my favorite transition on the record), and 3) the album as a whole became more varied and balanced throughout its course.

Preciousness for details is almost always the enemy of balance. Being off balance has its place. A place I probably enjoy too much. But with every record I make I find my resilience to pull myself out of my own ass and pull back for a wider perspective has gotten stronger and more refined.

I can only pray that this more mature state of affairs leads to better end results. I used to be so invested in the idea that insanity and escape were the only way to get at anything worthwhile.

Failure

Failure — 2015 Tour Dates
July 2 Lawrence, KS Liberty Hall
July 3 Joliet, IL Mojoes
July 4 Milwaukee, WI Summerfest
July 5 Cleveland, OH The Grog Shop
July 7 Columbus, OH LC Pavilion Amphitheatre
July 8 Lansing, MI Common Ground Festival
July 9 Cincinnati, OH 20th Century Theatre
July 10 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
July 12 Ottawa, ON Ottawa Bluesfest
July 14 Quebec City, QC Quebec City International Summer Festival
July 16 Portland, ME Asylum
July 17 Syracuse, NY The Westcott Theatre
July 21 Nashville, TN 3rd & Lindsley
August 8-9 Atlanta, GA The Wrecking Ball