Here we are, finally in winter in Central Oregon…a fitting time to be finishing mixing and production on Winteresque, the new full length album from Finn Miles.
Thanks to all who have been on the journey with us the last few years; 2012 is looking up for Finn Miles!
Dan Bosman of Scented Vinyl let us release hold the first phase of our album release at the Mars Cafe in December 2010. This was momentous…the best album yet, self recorded and produced and released with a great backing band. Still…I wanted Winteresque. I had been playing the songs live, sharpening parts and watching the crowd for reaction. By this time I had nine songs, plus the idea to rerecord two previously recorded songs.
We were growing in depth, building the skills, and the set of microphones that would allow us to make no compromises in recording Winteresque.
But of course, there was a new challenge that was facing us. I was moving to Oregon in the mid-summer, giving us a tight deadline to complete tracking.
Meeting once a week in Scott’s rented basement/studio we applied more rigor and discipline than ever to getting the right sounds. We split duties, co-engineering and co-producing. I played some keys and organ, Scott played guitar. We were starting to overlap. The only question was, would we finish in time? (read on to Part 5 of this adventure)
I’m teaching myself a bit of piano, and thought it would be fun to share this solo piano version of “Warm, Warm Heart” with you.
Warm, Warm Heart is a song off of the upcoming Finn Miles album “Winteresque” which will be released in late winter 2012 and available on iTunes. Stay tuned for more updates, or join us on Facebook for breaking news.
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)
I just picked up an Audix i5 today, just one of the many microphones that will be used on our upcoming album “Winteresque.” The Audix i5 is a good workhorse mic, I’m looking forward to using it for variety on guitar amps and percussion. Stay tuned for more updates on our recording process; things are sounding incredible so far, we’re excited to share the music!
At some point in every musician’s life they reach a point where they struggle with justifying their craft and therefore their existence. For me this happens around 10:30am, 2:45pm, and 11pm, daily. It is perhaps, a symptom of life-as-we-know-it in the modern/post-modern age. “What’s the point?” Is it the pursuit of celebrity, or ego? Fame, riches? There certainly must be a better way.
I am small.
A stage name, vinyl pants, a theater of dishonesty, and sycophantic behavior …seriously? The great leveling off of the music business may separate the shallow fame-grubbers from the everyday craftspeople. What is greater than everyday beauty? The best songs are folk songs (whether rap, country, reggae). They become songs of the people; a cultural treasure. Owned by all who have lips to sing, and ears to hear.
I’ve wrestled with methods of making money with music, and I’ve wrestled with how to make music perfectly free. While wrestling with these concepts I have distilled a few vital things:
1. I don’t really need much money to make music and be happy.
2. I love writing songs and will continue to create music…no matter what.
3. The ridiculous compulsion that drives #2 might be a clue to “the meaning of life” for me.
4. Existence may be its own reward.
5. The opportunity to create and share beauty is a noble pursuit, even if you need to “keep your day job.”
Inspiration…right here. Do research. Follow these bands. Go to their concerts. These are some of the greatest albums, and greatest Singer/Songwriter albums.
Andrew Bird – The Mysterious Production of Eggs
Sufjan Stevens – Michigan
Ray Lamontagne – Trouble
Over the Rhine – Good Dog, Bad Dog
Tom Petty – Wildflowers
U2 – The Joshua Tree
Van Morrison – Moondance
Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Elliott Smith – Either/Or
A number of people have asked me questions about the most recent Finn Miles release, Modern Saints EP. “What was the inspiration? How did you record the music? Where was it recorded? What does it all mean?” I’ll attempt to answer these questions and more below. Read on!
Our EP Modern Saints was our first release on Pinnacle Records, an independent record label from Ames, IA. The album was self produced and recorded by Paul Gratton, with slight musical assistance from tenured Finn Miles member Scott Gratton.
During the summer of 2010 I (Paul) wanted to record a full length album centering around a haiku I wrote named “Winteresque.” However, Scott, who had produced the previous two Finn Miles albums, was busy preparing for his nuptials and had no time for recording and producing.
Since Scott was necessary for the Winteresque project I decided to write a collection of songs based around an idea for a song I had called “Modern Love.” While waiting for Winteresque I found myself prolifically writing lyrics and melodies, enough for five songs, all of which orbit around the idea that modernist philosophy has given us great efficiency, computational technology, and access to massive amounts of data, but has not provided the insight and wisdom to use these advances in healthy ways.
What if we confess we still didn’t really know how to love each other? What if rapid transit distances us from the ones we most want to be with? How can we build more beautiful, highly functioning cities? These are the questions Modern Saints wrestles with.
Over a five month period I frequented a makeshift studio that I had set up in my friend Matt’s living room. With a key to the front door, I came and left at leisure, layering guitars, experimenting with rhodes piano, glockenspiel, tambourine, and shakers. The end result was far better than I had expected when I began the project, in fact I thought it was good enough to share with the world. After last minute late-night vocals and a glossy-eyed mastering session with Darren Hushak we declared the EP finished, passing the design work off to talented artist and Finn Miles collaborator Jonathan Pearson.
Once the artwork was completed I put together a crackerjack band, comprised of Finn Miles members Laura Gratton, Scott Gratton, and myself, along with talented newcomers Brandon Findlay and Darren Hushak rounding out the sonics on guitar, bass, and tambourine. We held a three-show weekend to celebrate the new music, culminating with a set at the Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines, IA on December 19th, 2010 – featuring the live visuals of Josh Larson’s Weiv project, and the pair of talented opening bands, Jacob Tyler Wolfgang and the Dustin Smith Band.
Overall, I count the endeavor of writing and recording my EP a stunning success, though as with any project, there are always nagging second guesses. “Should the tambourine be mixed higher? Maybe that’s not my best vocal take. Did I over-compress the guitars?” At the end of the project these doubts must be surrendered. As I’ve found from previous albums, some of the most offending “mistakes” become endearing moments of honesty, reminding me that there is no such thing as a perfect album, or a perfect person. Still, I believe there is a gritty kind of beauty beneath all of the clanging and strumming, you’ll hear it on Modern Saints.
I invite you to hear our latest recording, Modern Saints. You can listen at our website, www.finnmiles.com, or purchase the music on iTunes,Amazon, or many of the other major online music retailers. I’ve enjoyed making this music, and I sincerely hope you enjoy listening to it.
Thanks,
Paul
- Finn Miles
P.S. – Expect the long awaited Winteresque in 2011!
