A fine show from Dudley’s Coffee shop and bookstore! Notice in the pictures, no mic, no amps…just singing, stomping and playing. We had fun with a scavenger hunt during songs..find the author which inspired the song. A very chill time in a fantastic cafe in the heart of Bend, OR!
So, I thought we were ready to go to work on yet another album. That’s how things had worked between Branches and Telltale Heart, there hadn’t been much of a break. I had the songs…now hit it!
Kickstart Winteresque with us!
I even started a Kickstarter project in anticipation of starting the album. I was playing with a great six piece band, getting good gigs, doing radio interviews. Life was good.
It was good, but in some ways paper thin. The band was superb, but all part of other projects as well, and over a few months they mostly drifted into other backing bands. The Kickstarter didn’t really “kickstart.” It went splat. It turns out these crowd-sourcing tools work great if you have a crowd ready to give. I didn’t. Then…my brother got engaged. A happy event…but a death knell for Winteresque happening in 2010.
Fortunately I had plenty of shows lined up at coffee houses and small venues…and I could always go back to looping with the Boss RC-50 Loopstation. Still, I was ready to record…so I decided to take a step of audacity.
I would write and record an album of “new” material while waiting until we could work on Winteresque. Thus, the idea for the “Modern Saints EP” was born.
Read on to Part 3 or the Winteresque saga. (coming soon)
I originally planned on recording the Winteresque album over a year ago, but life got in the way.
After the release of the Telltale Heart EP (which was a fabulous success) I started writing a batch of new songs. When I write songs they usually come fast and furious, and before too long a theme emerges. This central thesis acts as a centrifugal force, pulling the album together, each song finding its own seat. This creates albums which are cohesive, but not caught up with all weight the concept album.
The central theme finally caught my eye in the corner of my writing journal; it was a simple Haiku I had previously written.
Autumn’s light will fail.
Long white sheets on a pale field.
Will we bloom again?
All of a sudden, the lens focused…Winteresque is a journey from autumn, through the dark of winter, and into the hope of spring. I started seeing elements of this journey in the other songs I’d write. Each song started informing the others on how they fit into the big idea; the puzzle pieces began falling into place. I wrote six songs and created acoustic demos to share with my brother, Scott Gratton who engineered and produced the previous Finn Miles EPs.
I felt like I was on track…but then something happened. (To be continued in Part 2)
As winter sets in across the high desert it’s fitting that our upcoming album “Winteresque” is in final stages of tracking and mixing. In a sense, the album, with the question “Will we bloom again?” fixed firmly in the title track, is a questions for the band Finn Miles. Will we bloom again?
After a move half-way across the country, losing a good chunk of our band in the process, we’re in the process of putting things back together. We’re just starting to get into the Central Oregon music scene with a handful of coffee house shows and open mics, relying heavily on the Boss RC-50 LoopStation to add the many layers that are trademark to the Finn Miles sound.
Will we bloom again? There will be some changes, including a complete website/social media/email list overhall, a new band, a new look, and new songs. Still, the core elements remain. Lush, beautiful soundscapes, intimate songwriting, earnest vocals…these things are in us, and cannot be separated.
If you’d like to watch the metamorphosis in action, keep an eye on www.finnmiles.com, as well as our Facebook page…we’ll be busy behind the scenes the next few months. Or join the email list…you’ll be one of the first to know about some of the exciting changes we have in store. Trust me.
Another fun show at the Book and Bean in Prineville! We’ll be playing a “Black Friday” stint at the Book and Bean from 1 -3 pm on Friday, November 25th. Join us!
I was recently asked to provide music for the opening of a new art gallery in Prineville, the Alpha Omega gallery. Always willing to play surrounded by visual art, I tucked the Boss RC-50 Loopstation under my arm and created ambiance for the gallery’s grand opening.
We’re finally getting some gigs under our belt here in Oregon, enjoying meeting other musicians, visual artists, and creative people.
Despite being both a folk singer and a rocker, I do enjoy dabbling in a little moody electronica from time to time.
Lately I’ve been playing with some midi plugins in Protools, using a Casio midi keyboard to trigger sounds, coming up with jangling layers of synths, pads and choirs.
Enjoy the latest electronic boondoggle; just created on a whim, I present to you the aptly named “The Rattling Sabres of Angels on High.”
It’s always nice to have a cosy cafe to play at, especially when it’s right out your back door. I played a solo acoustic + looping lunch show at the Book and Bean…including Weiv! The interactive visuals were a perfect fit for the down-home atmosphere.
We’re working on setting up a handful of Central Oregon shows before we nestle down in December and focus on finishing our full-length album, Winteresque. Check out the tour page, and join us for a show!
