2009 wrapped with an accumulation.
The collection had yet to find its thread. It was there, but under the surface. The songs were in process or review. It wasn’t until a train of afterthought appeared that a few demos could be written off to expose what would eventually become 2011’s Our Blood.
It was about this time that I began to draw on a few recent effects, including the Electro Harmonix POG 2.
The swirly sound on Specters intro is a Harmony Hollywood guitar played through the polyphonic octave generator with the dry output (the strumming) turned down, leaving just the effect. The pedal would end up being a recurring voice with other instruments as well — keyboards & drum machine — in 2013’s Surrounded.
Some remainders from that period were reimagined for a limbo project called THIRST.
This is where a song called Specters found its calling in 2015.
THIRST is a story: a child wakes at night & goes to a well. From inside the well, a voice warns of what may await. It’s the voice of the child’s mother — the wellspring — & speaks from a future where all involved have now passed on — an early attempt at intervention Specters would end up being used as the tale’s bookends — the first song, a brief intro instrumental of the whole. The entire song with lyrics was used as the end piece.
More of THIRST will be time-released in EXTRACTIONS posts over the course of this year. Specters intro begins the series.
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