It’s over!

Finished writing songs on Friday.  Recorded last night and tonight.  Glad to have this behind me.  Unfortunately, there are numerous technical problems I encountered with the recordings, so they’re not as listenable as previous years’ songs, but at least I got them done!

Final tracklisting:

1. Burial at Sea
2. Determined to Burn
3. Open Chords and Broken Hearts
4. Get It Out
5. Feels Like Rain
6. Too Sad to Sing the Blues
7. The Green Room
8. 2 Days
9. Am I Transparent?
10. Here We Go Again
11. In a Box of Sorts
12. Blankdrawing
13. Distorted Eyes
14. Lift

Well, I got pretty far behind, but I’m still working on it.  Just reached the halfway mark (7 songs), though it’s about 3/4 of the way through the month.  I think I can do it though it’ll be rough.

Songs:

1. Burial at Sea
2. Determined to Burn
3. Open Chords and Broken Hearts
4. Get It Out
5. Feels Like Rain
6. Too Sad to Sing the Blues
7. The Green Room

And here’s the album cover:

It’s been a long time in the works, but it’s finally here! Music for Smoke Detectors is finally back on sale at our music page, via bandcamp.com.  You can listen for FREE or purchase a download.

Here’s the lowdown….

Includes the original album from 2001, 11 songs:

1. Leave
2. Symphony and I
3. Just Like You
4. Holding Hands (Not Still In Love)
5. All I Could Give
6. Deeper into Rhythm
7. The Elevator Was Afraid of Heights
8. The Rain Falls
9. Residue
10. Hyperactivity
11. Today (is a very good day)

Plus 9 bonus tracks, including The Demo Reel EP which was released in November 2000, and contained early versions of four MFSD songs:

1. Leave
2. Residue
3. All I Could Give
4. Just Like You

2 remixes:

1. Leave
2. Hyperactivity

An acoustic version of “Today (is a very good day)”

and 2 versions of an instrumental entitled “Moped” (the first of which was recorded just a few months after MFSD’s release).

But wait!  There’s more!

Buy the full album download (only $7!) and you’ll get full artwork, PDF booklet with lyrics and liner notes, and 2 videos from a live performance in 2008, containing the songs “All I Could Give” and “The Elevator Was Afraid of Heights.”  These are higher quality, un-cropped versions of 2 of the videos on the OP YouTube page.

Individual songs are $0.70, full album is $7.  Available now at our music page.

Finished two songs, one instrumental and one with lyrics.  Threw out one song because it was too similar to a song I wrote a couple of years ago.  Got a vague idea on another one, but I’m getting some writer’s block etc.

Still, I’m not too far behind yet!

So far:

1. Burial at Sea
2. Determined to Burn

Burial at Sea will also serve as this year’s title track, in tribute to my previous moniker, Seafarer, under which I wrote my last two FAWM albums.

The next several weeks are going to be busy in OxygenPillowLand!

Currently I’m working on the long-overdue redesign of oxygenpillow.com (which will also be carried over where possible to online profiles eventually).

Next I’ll be getting merch put up on CafePress (for all your tshirt and sticker needs, natch).

In February I will be embarking on FAWM for my third year running. Yes, I’m still committed to making my new album this year. Still, it never hurts to have more material around, and hey, some of these might even make the album!

And finally, the long-awaited reissue of “Music for Smoke Detectors” I’ve been talking about for months. The original 2001 album is augmented by 9 bonus tracks, videos and PDF liner notes and lyrics. This will be a download-only release.

Get ready, people. The ball is finally rolling!

Made some progress on this song finally!  It’s slowly starting to be a bit more fleshed out than the demo I had made before.  Might be taking this one in a different direction than before.  Recorded a very rough demo.  We’ll see how it goes.

Getting things set up

Today I got to have some rehearsals for the upcoming album.  Still really early on in the process but it felt good to actually do something!  My friend Adrian James (from the band Das Gift) played drums for me.  In fact, we were at DG’s practice space in Vilonia.

We went through several of the songs planned for the album, plus a few extras, including a wee bit of improvisation.  It was quite nice to actually be able to play along with a drummer!  Things went fairly ok, despite some technical problems, me struggling with a lack of practice (and familiarity with my own material!), and other mishaps.

One thing this session definitely impressed upon me is the need for me to practice more!  Ugh.  I’ve never been the type to practice, but I’ll have to work on that!

Just testing this out, that’s all. Stay tuned for real news.

Welcome to the new Oxygen Pillow blog. Not much to post yet, but some stuff is in the works in OP Land. First off is the 9th anniversary re-issue of Music for Smoke Detectors, the debut album from 2001. It’s due out Feb 16th, 2010. Also I hope to have a new record made sometime in the next year.