That’s it.  About an hour ago, I sent off the final two songs to be mixed.  There’s still work left to do, of course.  Mastering and packaging… music videos and online campaigns.  But the album itself has left our hands.  And it’s now in the phenomenal mixing hands of John Spiker.  Thus far, he has mixed 4 of the 9 songs that will compromise “Ocean Blue, Velvet Skies” and we couldn’t be happier!

It’s been a long road, but Maddie and I are feeling very positive about this album.  "Ocean Blue, Velvet Skies" is our idea of what a sunset sounds like.  Saying that is pretty lofty, but it’s the image we had in our heads working on this record.  30+ songs demoed, constant talks with our manager to refine the sound and vision, and now the big payoff: hearing the final tracks.

We have some shows coming up this November and December… and we have a music video to make.  The first single off ‘Ocean Blue, Velvet Skies’ probably won’t appear until February… but we’ll be furiously busy until then.  There’s always a lot going on behind the scenes, to get things moving.

I’ve been writing songs for our next album too, and I feel like it will be a great next step that takes what 'OBVS’ does and travels into a new direction.  Ultimately, this is where my brain really is right now.  Wrote a song last night that has really excited me, called 'Someone to Break my Heart’.

I love science fiction. Since I was a teenager, I have been an enthusiast of great storytelling and epic book series.  I’ve always been a fan of expansive, immersive experiences. Why read just the Hobbit, when you can read the Lord of the Rings?  Better yet, why go for that trendy stuff when you can dig deeper into the Silmarillion?  There are many epic book series out there… And I have gleefully devoured many.

So too do I love albums. Better yet, give me an artist’s discography so I can come to know the mind(s) of the artists.  I suppose I’m not suited for this decade, with its child-rhyme hooks and its singles mentality.

Polaris Rose is working on a 6-album series… Beginning with ‘Telescopes’, deepening into 'Ocean Blue, Velvet Skies’ and then racing off into darkness with 4 subsequent albums.  All of which have their own theme and sonic palette… But all of which have the Polaris Rose sound.

As much as I’d like to excitedly talk about the direction we will take, I will hold off.  But I will say, I’m super excited.  On any given day, I will be working on material from album 6 and then turn around and work on album 3.  The titles are all established.  The landscapes are there too (we’re leaving the beach and driving through the desert).  The emotional themes are set up like skeletons, with room for adaptation depending on where life takes us.

“Telescopes” was an album about searching for something/someone unobtainable and making yourself miserable in the process.  I was writing about my own search for success in the music industry.  It was a fool’s search… But more on that another time.  “Ocean Blue, Velvet Skies” is about finding peace in ourselves… Building a life as an artist and letting go of that “unobtainable search” in order to explore deeper territories.  The following record (#3) continues that narrative in a more “socially minded” kind of way.  I’m excited to share those songs and ideas… And I’m excited to be in a band that will evolve over the course of each record, leading to that final, sad goodbye.

This Friday we are performing at the Hotel Cafe.  And we feel it.  We have been practicing every night for weeks, learning new material and tweaking the setlist.  We stay up late, work all day, and - only occasionally - find time to step out at night and catch our friends’ shows around town.  The work is totally exhausting and it can be nerve wracking…

But it’s gonna be a rad show for us.

Our steadfast drummer Kiel Feher is on tour with Zella Day.  While we are sad to be missing him, we have turned this into an opportunity to work with the mighty Carlos Beltran.  Carlos has a great way of re-interpreting the songs, which we love to hear.  

Our pal Matthew Saba is once more joining us as a second guitarist.  Matt is one of the greatest people to have on a team… a focused player and always working to achieve the best performance possible.  He is also on an endless search to find just one more pedal…

This setlist will be a bit different from our last… our last performance featured a lot of songs from ‘Telescopes’.  But this show is going to cover material back to our first EP and beyond.  We thought it would be fun to play a song of our ’singles’… all those songs that we released out into the world that seemed to get the most attention (so you’ll hear songs like the one below).  We are even going to debut a new song, ‘TigerBait’.

Which brings me to our plans with Ocean Blue, Velvet Skies.  I recently blogged about the debate we were having over whether or not to record an EP or an LP… well, the final answer seems to be ‘Neither’.  We are starting something we call an ‘Umbrella Project’… where we will be releasing singles every other month, leading up to a final product of some sort (we are still dreaming up what that final project will be… my vote is to make it a full album with fancy packaging… limited pressing, of course).

SO!  Come to the Hotel Cafe (1623 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028) on Friday the 17th!  We go on at 9:30.  $10 cover.