The Naked Treatment

The quarantine on Lazarus House has been lifted! Not only that, I'm off my first thirty days of restriction, having been here five weeks now, with forty-five days alcohol-free. I have to say, yesterday was one of my roughest days yet. I don't know why, but after Bible study, I went back to bed and couldn't even convince myself to do my chores. I didn't feel like doing anything enjoyable, and I cried myself to sleep. When I woke, I still didn't feel like doing anything...except drinking. It was the hardest urge to manage yet, especially when not a single coping skill sounded tempting or like it would do the trick. So I just laid in bed and...managed. I rode it out, and I'm still sober, and now I have this NEW EP to present to you to keep me busy. The promotional circus and behind-the-scenes publishing should keep me busy for the next week. And hopefully I'll start writing more songs. I haven't written anything since "Luminous," and I might just concentrate on that as a single for now. Baby steps back into the songwriting business after taking such a long break. I'm thinking I'll send the song over to Zach Shattuck, the man behind the covers for "My Secret Life" and Black Leather and Sugarcane, and see if it inspires him. I'm in no hurry to release it, so I won't be pressuring him with deadlines this time, which he'll probably be thankful for.

As for this EP, it was a long time coming. You may have heard me talking about it as far back as last Winter. Ever since the successful experiment that was the "Naked" version of "Why Can't We Have Nice Things?" I've been trying to think up ways to make it a more accessible song, as part of a major release. Trying out other "Naked" versions of songs seemed like the appropriate way to go, but not many of my songs would actually successfully undergo the stripping-down process. I rely so much on my off-kilter beats, strange synths, and thrashing guitars. And I needed songs with a more classical-piano feel to them. While I've expanded my repertoire on those quite a bit in the last few albums, there's still a lot of guitar interruptions, and not all electric guitar can be successfully transferred to acoustic guitar. I did find a way around that that works pretty well in one song, at least: I translated the electric guitar interludes in "The First Time I Woke Up..." to bass-cleft piano, and I think it sounds rather amazing. That won't work in just any case, though, I discovered. It was kind of a fluke, but I'm extremely pleased with how the "Naked" version of "The First Time I Woke Up..." turned out.

"Familial Germs" was one of the first to get the stripped-down treatment, and I was really iffy on it for quite a while, and rearranged some of the instruments and added some bass strings and upright bass to a couple of sections to try and flesh it out better. But the more I worked on it, the more dissatisfied I was with it. It wasn't until I left it alone for weeks and then gave it another listen that I fell in love with it. There's a lot of golden instrumentation in the piano and strings in that song, and it really shines through without the encumbering beats and synths. So I'm very happy to include it here for you.

"Jade's Theme" already has an almost "Naked" version of it in the form of "Introducing... (Alternate III)," though there's some cello and extra piano complexity that makes "Jade's Theme" not "Introducing...". And it's amazing how different "Jade's Theme" sounds with the absence of a couple of synths and beats. I kept the electric piano as one of my exemptions from the "acoustic" rule (the other is a synth that winds up the end of "Why Can't We Have Nice Things?"). That electric piano is just too essential to the overall sound of the song. What I really did here was mash together "Introducing... (Alternate III)" and a version of "Jade's Theme" that "Cello Lesson" on Black Leather and Sugarcane is taken from, then stripped it of all but the strings, piano, and electric piano, then translated the ending to piano and electric piano instead of synths bouncing off each other.

"Little Boxes" lent itself quite easily to the "Naked" treatment. I considered keeping the warbling "theremin" synth like I did in the "Naked" version of "The Nocturnal Dervish," but it turned out to not really need it, especially after I composed a new bass line for the song. The bass with some acoustic guitar chords takes center stage nicely, providing some breaks from the piano and strings.

Finding other songs to fill out a seven-track order was not quite so easy. I actually tried stripping a few more songs than made it onto this EP that were decided failures. But sitting out in the studio, in the dark, I just kept plugging away at it, kept experimenting, and was surprised to find how well "Faceless Men" worked without its beats and guitar interludes, and how well "Feckless" worked without its muted guitar accompaniment. There was some rearranging to be done in "Faceless Men" to make it work, but "Feckless" was unexpectedly almost made for the acoustic treatment. And those two songs ended up bringing around the track number to seven - I had my EP!

I've had these songs sitting around waiting to be polished and arranged for months now, but my drinking, my relocation to Lazarus House, and my computer crash all interfered with getting it up off the ground. But now it's helped me to get through the COVID quarantine, and not everyone here did. Our numbers in the house have dwindled to less than half what we were when I got here, either from people moving out or getting kicked out. As was pointed out in Bible study this morning, being told you can't do something will really provoke that rebellious spirit. And some of the guys here tried to pass the time with drugs and conceal it. It's really unfortunate. People I was beginning to become really attached to have been kicked out of the program, or have left because they couldn't take the restrictions. But I'm still here, and I'm free to go where I will now, and my driving gigs will be picking up again soon. So I have some stuff to look forward to. Hopefully more music is a part of that future.

Until I get the ball rolling on some new music, I hope you enjoy this EP. Man, one night I was tossing and turning and feeling wretchedly awake, and then the urge to listen to this came over me. The results of the stripping-down process to expose the grace of the piano and strings is really quite relaxing, and though I made it all the way to the last song, I couldn't remember the EP ending, but became aware of the empty hiss in my headphones. As soon as I took them off, I rolled over and fell asleep. It worked beautifully, and I hope it offers some similar peace to you. You can find it at (links become highlighted as they become available) YouTube and YouTube Music, Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music and iTunes, Amazon, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Napster, Pandora, and TIDAL.

I guess this is a short one. My last article wasn't that long ago, and I filled you in on a lot with that one. I don't have a bonus song to share right now, but if you want to hear my latest song, visit the end of the previous article, and enjoy. I think I'll shoot Zach a message about a possible cover for a single right now. Until the next release or major life event, I hope your inner snails remain resilient and determined.

P.S. Okay, here's something cute I thought I could share as a little something extra. Baby Yoda wants to play "Vile Beast" from the album Edges, but the Mandalorian isn't having none of that.

Mythic Migrations

Man, life has been full of a lot of disruptions and interruptions lately. I guess it began with my computer freaking out on me. Well, really, it started with COVID-19, but that seemed really distant at first, and not to affect the social recluse that I was terribly. So anyway, my mouse on my computer started going schizo, jumping all over the place and clicking on things at random, making it impossible to work. So I wasn't able to get this blog article done when I published Mythic Migrations. I was already late getting it started because I was beginning to drink heavily at the time. I think there was a little coronavirus influence there. Well, the computer had to be taken to the shop, and I just started drinking more to fill up the time I normally would have spent working. I wasn't even writing new songs. I still haven't been writing new songs. But I think I'm in a better place now.

But back then I was sneaking around drinking airplane shots of whiskey and hiding the empties in a drawer. The drawer was discovered. I was living with my mom and my step-dad, in what's supposed to be an alcohol-free zone. I tried to downplay it and promised I would get sober, but they started watching me like a hawk, and I started drinking more. I started buying whole fifths of Jim Beam instead of just little shot bottles. And I wasn't as clever at concealing it as I thought I was. So I kept getting caught time and again, and I even had a drunken meltdown or two, which didn't help my cause. It got to the point where I wore out my welcome in my parent's home. They gave me an ultimatum: either go to rehab, or be homeless.

Well, most of the rehabs are closed down or at very limited capacity due to COVID these days, so we had a hard time finding a place that would take me, but my Mom landed on a place called Lazarus House, which is a six-month religious program. I didn't like the sound of that at all. So on the night before they were going to take me, I decided to create a third option: I attempted to overdose on Ativan and Seroquel. Apparently, I didn't take enough, and I found myself in the closed psychiatric ward of Mercy Hospital in Joplin, Missouri. It wasn't so bad. They provided nicotine patches, my meds, an old Michael Crichton book I'd read a million times, and some group therapy sessions that were more like classes on coping skills. They had really good food, allowed my parents to bring me more books after I finished Sphere in two days. I ended up staying at Mercy for five days, and called around trying to find other rehabs that might take me. I called up the director of Lazarus House to get a clearer idea of his program, and he described a Bible camp for addicts, which made me even more desperate not to go there. On the day I was supposed to be discharged from Mercy, I had a panic attack and convinced them to let me stay just one more day. And then it was time to make a decision: go to Lazarus House, or the homeless shelters.

I chose Lazarus House. And despite the mandatory Bible studies at 5:30 every morning and two evenings a week, plus two church services on the weekends, and that I'm surrounded by homophobic religious nut-jobs, I like it better here than I thought I would. The gay jokes and casual use of the word "fag" used as a derogative really bothered me at first, but you know what? I grew up in McMinnville, OR, before my generation took it over, and it was a town where you were either religious or a meth addict, and everyone identified as a redneck. And I adapted and survived back then, learned how to be "one of the guys" and developed friendships, and now it's just time to draw on those old skills and to let the shit roll off of me. And I guess it's time to learn my Bible better. There is some wisdom to be found in there, some really uplifting passages, and some cool stories. I've long since quit looking at Christians as my enemy, so this isn't a "know your enemy" kind of thing. This is just gaining a better understanding of a culture that happens to be dominant in the area of the U.S. that I'm living in now. And the sober living aspect has been good for me. I've achieved thirty-seven days sober, as of today.

But life was once again interrupted, even in the midst of Lazarus House. This is kind of a joke of a rehab, really. There's no staff, no one with medical or psychiatric training, there's not even the Twelve Steps. There's bed bugs that weekly spraying isn't getting rid of, and there's eleven-to-fifteen guys living here together, with no coronavirus precautions in place. Half these guys have jobs and regularly get out into the world. So it wasn't a complete surprise when one of them came up positive for COVID. Someone we've all lived with and used the same facilities as. So the Health Department was called in, and now Lazarus House is under quarantine for two weeks. I was just about to be lifted off "restricted" status (you're under house arrest for the first thirty days here). I was just beginning to be given assignments as a "house driver," putting my driver's license to use carting people around from this "treatment center" and the other recovery houses associated with it. Now I'm stuck here a while longer.

But my computer's been fixed! It took a few weeks, but the issue - which was a swollen battery pressing against the mouse pad from the inside - has been resolved. I guess it took them awhile to find a new battery for a Mac this "old" (hey, it still fulfills my needs). As soon as I got it back in my hands, I went to work tweaking and mastering all seven songs for the upcoming The Naked Truth EP, a collection of bare-bones versions of previously-recorded songs including the "Naked" version of "Why Can't We Have Nice Things?" which has only been available as a Snail Tunes-exclusive bonus track until now. I put together an MP3 prototype of the EP and listened to it yesterday, and I uploaded it to DistroKid this morning, slating it for a July 17th release, which is the day the quarantine is supposed to be lifted.

Meanwhile, Mythic Migrations has been available, and I've been trying to promote it as much as I can from my phone, but it's just not the same. I don't have access to all the links on my phone, just what I have the apps for, and my Apple Music has been shut off. So I've been tweeting YouTube, Spotify, and Deezer links, and trying to get back into the habit of doing Facebook posts, but I also hate typing on my phone. So working on my computer right now is a real treat. But I'm using a housemate's hotspot, which I can't do all the time, so my Internet access on the computer is limited. I'll still be working mostly from my phone, but having this blog article published will help immensely, giving me access to copy and paste from the following links, where you can find Mythic Migrations: YouTube and YouTube Music, Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music and iTunes, Amazon, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Napster, Pandora, and TIDAL.

This EP is very much along the same lines as the album Edges. I took some piano ditties and gave them the neoclassical treatment with some strings arrangements, then explored them further with some thrashing electric guitars, off-kilter beats, and strange synths. Of special note is the synth solo in "The Black-Winged Stork;" I don't know where I found that synth or what I did to make it sound like that, but I think it's quite tasty. In these songs, I practiced a few techniques that I was just starting to touch on in The Soul Washer. There's riffs of muted electric guitar guiding the rhythm. There's rapid arpeggios of electronic piano in the background for an electronica vibe, as well as a "grid bass" that rapidly alternates between two octaves with deep electronic pulses. And then there's then there's the "suspense bass" that's a deep buzzing drone riddled with treble distortions. All these techniques add to the industrial vibe of my music, which you're about to see stripped away in The Naked Truth.

Sorry to not go through each song individually with you. Honestly, the writing of them isn't that fresh in my mind anymore, since this was published so long ago. And mostly, this article was meant to catch you up on what's been happening in my life, what's been preventing me from working, and what I'm working on now that I'm able. I hope you've had a chance to listen to the EP and that you've been enjoying it. And I hope that in these times that I'm sure have been trying for everyone, your inner snails remain resilient and determined.

P.S. I've started writing music again, and I recently recorded this song in a single day! I'm very proud of it, very happy to be writing again, and excited to share it! I think this will be my next single. Enjoy!

The Lady anoNYMous · Luminous