Suburba (House of Heroes, 2010)
(August 3, 2010)
Review:
Energetic and ambitious, both musically and lyrically: this is how I would describe Suburba, an album that keenly navigates the alternative and Christian genres, pulling in stereotypical, “expected” components but not without a few innovative surprises.
Top Two Tracks:
“God Save the Foolish Kings” & “Love is For the Middle Class”
By Chris Moore:
Well, it’s been a while since I posted a music video, so I figured I’d better make certain my YouTube account was still functional…
This week, instead of recording a cover song, I felt that it was time to kick off The 2010 Project music video series I’ve been planning for a while. You may be wondering, what exactly is The 2010 Project? It is the working title — and, based on a recent conversation, very possibly the official title — of my forthcoming album.
Thus far, as of April break, I’ve chosen the thirteen songs that I plan to record and completed the writing of both music and lyrics. Since then, I’ve recorded acoustic demos of each song and begun listening them in order to help me think of and decide on arrangements and various aspects of how I’d like the final products to sound. I’ve been experimenting with GarageBand drum loops, and I’ve been practicing the songs quite a bit since April. Every weekend since then, I’ve taken an hour to sit down and play through the album in order.
As with any big project like recording an album’s worth of material, anything’s liable to change by the time the final product is ready to be heard. That being said, I plan to string together thirteen installments in this music video series, each featuring one of the aforementioned songs. And, understanding that anything can change, I’ll be releasing them here on the blog in the order I plan to sequence them on the album.
The first song up is “No Lights, No Sound.” Laptop Sessions regulars may recognize this as a video I’ve already recorded and posted over a year ago. However, this is the finalized version, with some slight lyric changes and additional verses. This song is a rare case of old lyrics re-emerging on a new song. The story here is that, a few months ago, I came across the lyrics for an old song that I never really committed to, but had always liked a few lines from. I thought they might fit nicely into this song, and with a few alterations, I think they do.
In a lot of ways, this is one of the simplest songs on the list, a tune that started as I walked around my room in the dark almost two years ago. I was home alone, my capo on the second fret from having played another song (which I’ve since forgotten), and the first line sort of came to me: “The lights are off; there’s no one around…” I wrote this and the first chorus, but that was it for a while. It wasn’t until months later that I added the middle section and new verses. Then, this past April, I deleted a verse and added two more in.
“No Lights, No Sound” is a song that has weathered several phases in my recent life, a track that has been conceived, shaped, and reshaped by these phases and survives in its current form with a scheduled slot as the opening track of The 2010 Project.
I hope you like this one. For some reason, even though my allergies haven’t been hitting me as hard as they probably will soon, my voice wasn’t at its peak today. That being said, I feel that worked for this solo acoustic performance.
So, without further ado, here is the first installment in the series — hurry back every day this week and both days of the weekend for new posts!
See you next session!
“After Midnight”
J.J. Cale
(Popularly performed by Eric Clapton)
C D# F C
After midnight, we’re gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we’re gonna chug-a-lug and shout.
C
We gonna stimulate some action,
F
We gonna get some satisfaction,
F G
We gonna find out what it is all about…
After midnight, we’re gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we’re gonna shake your tambourine.
After midnight, it’s all gonna be peaches and cream.
We gonna cause talk and suspicion,
We gonna give an exhibition,
We gonna find out what it is all about…
After midnight, we’re gonna let it all hang down…
SOLO (over one full set of chord progression)
After midnight, we gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we gonna shake your tambourine.
After midnight, it’s all gonna be peaches and cream.
We gonna cause talk and suspicion,
We gonna give an exhibition,
We gonna find out what it is all about…
After midnight, we gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we gonna let it all hang down…
** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **
By Chris Moore:
This has been quite a year, one of new beginnings and of new avenues pursued. I’ve spent much of the year working on my weekly music reviews, so as the new music year begins for me today with the release of the Decemberists’ The King is Dead, I thought this would be the best time to put things in perspective and set goals for 2011.
First of all, I’ll be taking the month of February off and plan to return to the blog some time during March or so. At that point, I’ll have had time to think over what specific commitments I’ll be making in terms of videos and the Weekend Review, and I’ll return to posting the decent number of Guest Sessions that have been submitted over the last couple months. Until then, here’s a quick sketch of what I’ll be spending my time on.
The 2010 Project
I was a little less than halfway through the recording of my first solo album in four years when I stalled for school (both teaching and being taught). Since my graduate class ended a month ago, I have yet to delve back into recording, and it hasn’t been for a lack of desire. So, over the next month, I’m making the time for these songs before they gather so much dust that I lose the passion and momentum I feel for them now. (If you’re interested, I’m keeping a detailed record of my recording process at the all-new www.chrismooremusic.com.)
52 Pickup
I’ve kept a notebook with me much of the past year, and the result (which is more than three-quarters complete) is what will be my third collection of poetry, to be titled 52 Pickup. It’s a fifty-two poem sequence that tracks the dissolution of relationships (both romantic and otherwise) and how one copes with loss and subsequent reassessment. I’ve been writing often the past couple weeks and many of the poems I’ve written should make the cut. (You can also read updates on that as they come at my website.)
Other Pursuits
Other January/February obligations and activities will include midterm exams, the closing out of the first semester of the school year, helping to organize two charity benefit events at school, and a slew of one-off commitments. Thanks to my friend Mike, I’m hooked on Arrested Development and Dexter and nearing the end of both, and I’m gearing up to be as supportive of my girlfriend Nicole’s student teaching as she has been during my past several years of teaching. And last, but certainly not least, there’s a tremendous music opportunity that has presented itself to me. It’s called the Dry-Knuckle BedHeads, and while it pains me to say this, I’m going to keep that under wraps until I return.
So, until we meet again, take care and “see you next session”!