1.29.15 - New Years

2015 has come and new happenings are upon us.  

First off, we hope everyone had a wonderful New Years.  We celebrated by staying in and demoing new songs.  No finer way to say goodbye to our eclectic 2014 and welcome the shining, golden 2015.

We did talk - in a celebratory type way - about all our 2014 accomplishments.  Well, we were very proud of them.  Looking back, we began the year working on OceanSongs… which seems like a lifetime ago.  Those 6 songs really showed us the value of investing in ourselves.  And it taught us a healthy sense of our limitations.  And then - immediately thereafter - we began the massive process of demoing new music for the album that would be Telescopes.  And - with the help of Phil and Sera - we came out with a record that we’re fond of.  

The highlight of our year, though, was packing the Hotel Cafe on December 5th for our CD Release show.  We were truly humbled and thrilled to see such a big crowd, and it reminded us of how much we’ve grown this last year.  So hooray!  We were blessed to have Kiel Feher join us on drums once more (our fav drummer) and we were also thrilled to have Matt Saba join us on guitar.  We really thought the 4-piece lineup expressed our songs excellently.

This next year, we will be releasing more music and performing more often.  Our next show is in the works right now.  We have been quiet all of December and January (aside from a terrific launch of our single “Blue” on Soundcloud… 3.5k plays in just 8 days), but it is time to start making noise again.

Since December, we’ve been demoing material for our next release.  At first, we thought maybe another 10-12 song album, then we were thinking an EP, then maybe two EP’s released back to back… we aren’t entirely sure what shape it will take.  

But I can say, the record is named Ocean Blue, Velvet Skies.  I came up with the title a little over a year ago… just a simple reference to a California sunset.  And I can tell you a bit of the theme we’ve been seeing in the writing… while Telescopes was largely about a search for something unattainable (in my life, it would a life a musician), Ocean Blue Velvet Skies is more concerned with having found that something and about finding a true and holistic approach to life.  Sounds vague, I know… but it’s the kind of stuff we’ve been thinking about.

Out of the 20 songs/ideas we’ve demoed so far, some of our favorites have already risen to the top.  Songs like TigerBait, Whatever you Choose, and Misery & Moonbeams (to name a few) sound to us like Polaris Rose taken to the next level… same jazzy chords over a rock feel, but with an immediacy to the songwriting we think make these songs punchy and exciting.  While these songs make us smile, some of the others have got us scrunching our noses… You see, I thought - at one point - it would be cool to include some lounge-y songs on the next record, to really create a dynamic sound… but those lounge songs have fallen flat… songs like Sunset to the Sea, Echoes, and Moons & Clocks are just too lounge.  Maybe I should start a jazz band.  Ha ha ha.

We have more songs to demo, and we’ll be posting more frequently here at The Process.  Maddie says hi, by the way.  She’s laying on the couch playing Candy Crush.  I’m listening to Failure’s Fantastic Planet with a miniature dachshund on my lap.  Life’s not so bad.