| j o s e p h p a u l |
| Sky Across the Sea |
| Between something like late 2005 and early 2007, I worked on a solo album in my private home studio. It started as me just recording some songs for my own private enjoyment, but turned into something more cohesive. This was a time when I was heavily involved with my sister and I's Joe and Ellen duo project, so this work represented a little escapism for me. Ultimately, the result was Sky Across the Sea, a collection of eleven songs that I didn't plan on releasing, but which I considered to be an album. I have decided to now release this old record to my listeners who have been so supportive over the past few years. I hope you appreciate this gift. This album is free to anyone who would like to download it, but if you enjoy it, I hope you might consider contributing whatever you can in the form of a donation. Any amount is greatly helpful in allowing me to continue providing mp3s, videos, and other musical gifts. Just use the paypal link below: |
| 1. Even |
| This is a song about being really in love, and the sacrifices you're willing to make in that situation. Weirdly enough, I got the idea for the music when I was talking on the phone with a friend of mine. He turned on some song in the background. Songwriters will tell you sometimes that they can hear other songs in music that other people have written, and that's what happened with this, although I really couldn't hear the tune, since it was distorted by the phone static. I could just hear these faint remnants, and the music for this song sort of just came to me, or at least the feeling of it. I think that's kind of appropriate, given the nature of the subject matter. |
| This song was written to a drum sample from an old funk record which I slowed down and chopped up, resulting in a groove that got the songwriting juices flowing. The thing I really liked about recording this was the wah-wah guitar sound over a reversed guitar loop I made. I thought that together they kind of sounded like bagpipes. Anyway, this is one of my favorite guitar tones I've ever gotten, it's wah-wah and heavily distorted, but sort of airy and soaring at the same time. I also like the muffled vocal riffs done with a performance microphone rather than a studio mic. |
| I got the idea for this song one night while my friend Brian Rawson and I were sitting on top of his mom's house's roof, looking at the sky. We used to do that a lot in high school, talking about life, enjoying the sky at night, which is usually very beautiful in Oklahoma. This song has an intense rhythm, driven by heavy, pulsating drums. There are these two guitar tracks which kind of play off each other and build tension, and a ton of layered vocals. One of the things I ended up liking about this most was the bridge, which basically has a choir of my voice, and also some falsetto vocals so drenched in reverb that they almost sound ghostly. |
| 4. Pulcheria |
| Named after a Byzantine empress from the Middle Ages, this song is about that invincibility and sense of destiny you feel as a young person. Growing up in the safety of your parents' home, you think that the world is kind of out there waiting for you to dazzle it with your brilliance. There's something almost dance-able about the rhythm of this song. Plus the harmonica seems kind of cool. If you listen, you can hear that the lead guitar has a reverse pedal on it, so it ends up sounding really swirly and intense. |
| 5. August Rain |
| I always thought the guitar track in this sort of sounded like rain in the morning. The song is about thinking about someone you care about but can't be with for some reason. Once again, this uses a lot of layered vocals, and I think the doubled lead vocal really gives it the right dreamy sort of feel. |
| I don't think there are many pop songs about the joys of being alone -- not that being alone is better than being with someone you love, but there are some people who are almost torturous to be with. This song is about that, about needing to not be around certain people for your own sanity. I actually wrote this after going on a really bad date that I couldn't wait to be done with. I like the rhythm guitar on this song especially, it's a nice shimmery, jangly sort of tone. |
| The lyrics are about trying to connect with someone who builds walls, I suppose. This has about one hundred drum tracks, and about as many guitars. I remember feeling a little insane trying to make all the elements in this recording work together, but ultimately I think they did. Basically this tune has a very techno, fast-paced kind of rhythm with fairly organic and natural sounding guitars. |
| 8. Uneasy |
| "Uneasy" is one of my few instrumentals. I think the music perfectly reflects the title, since the pulsating rhythm combined with the haunting guitars sort of creates this mood of uncertainty and tense reflectiveness. I really like the way the power chords ended up sounding over the funky drum loop, which was assembled from the components of an old funk record. The slide guitar also seems to really build a lot of emotion in this one. If you listen carefully at the bridge, you will hear a muffled human voice speaking in the background. That was taken from a cassette tape I found as a teenager in my parents' garage. The tape contained a recording of some guy getting a psychic reading, and I used the portion where the psychic was in her trance-like state for the bridge in this track. |
| If you have my Try to Hold Seabirds CD you know that this recording ended up on that record. My friend Stephanie loves this song. She always mentions the "yellow grass like light across the plains", which she says anyone who grew up in the Midwest can relate to. Hope you like it as much. |
| 10. Flatlands |
| I'm going to be honest, I got the idea for this song while listening to Sheryl Crow's "I Shall Believe". I don't think the tune itself ended up sounding like that song, but the vibe is similar. It's supposed to sound like the countryside in the morning, when there's no one and nothing around. |
| Another instrumental, this time just a solo guitar. It's a hollow body washburn electric running through a choral flange chorus effect and a fender twin reverb tube amp. Haunting, and kind of the perfect ending track for a record. |