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failed cartographer :: 3.25.2006
track list
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© 2006 - produced by: jana pochop and ben
bonin engineered and mixed by: ben bonin guitar and vocals: jana pochop guitar: ben bonin violin: ruth bacon cover photo: beth elston all songs written by jana pochop |
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oh happy new year |
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| Our album-making process is what I like to call organic. This is the
second album collaboration between Ben and I, and we knew we wanted to
make this one a little more fleshed out than the last. We wanted to grow a
little bit as all musicians do when pondering their next project. However,
both Ben and I were working on our History degrees at the time and were
busy with school and work in addition to playing music as often as we
could. The ability to be flexible and go at our own pace was essential.
The kindness of our friends and fellow musicians never ceases to amaze us. Eric Owens, a fabulous Albuquerque-based bassist, loaned us his recording gear for a month or so, and we set to putting things on tape (or the hard drive, as it was). Ben and I set up shop in my apartment above the landlord’s garage. A few things about this situation: - Half the time our swamp cooler didn’t work, so plenty of this CD was recorded in a toasty 85 degree climate. - Sometimes the neighbors in the alley out back would scream, or a motorcycle would go by, or a plane would fly over. This meant we started over a lot. - My roommate Beth was endlessly patient, putting up with us “ssshh-ing” and having her door shut during recording. |
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| Overall it was a fun
process. I recorded my guitar and vocal parts in my tiny room, and Ben
developed and recorded his guitar parts at his apartment. Who needs a
recording studio when you pay rent? We had good intentions of finishing the CD over the summer and giving Eric his equipment back, but schedules collided and soon we found ourselves finishing it up in December. (We owe Eric cookies for the rest of his life, really). Again, we utilized the talents of our friends and asked violinist extraordinaire and fellow coffeehouse junkie Ruth Bacon to play on “Easy for the Leaving.” She gave us that “whoa!” we were looking for on the album, as we’ve never played with a violin before. With the CD in the can and the artwork chosen and designed, I was still struggling for a title. Generally, tradition dictates that the CD title be a song from the album…and that works a lot of the time. I made lists, brainstormed daily, solicited ideas, and polled friends repeatedly. Of course, every time I polled people, it would be a 50/50 split between two titles. That was no good. Finally I decided to scrap every idea I had considered thus far and start over. What did the album represent as a whole? The songs were a retrospective of the last year and a half of my life, and I knew there was a theme somewhere. The song “Love and Weather” contains the line “I am a failed cartographer.” That phrase stuck out…it’s about not reading things as accurately as you should. I think everyone has this problem…reading situations, intentions, faces…we piece together a map of connections and interactions every day. I don’t know about you, but it wears me out sometimes. Sometimes I so horribly misread a situation it’s not even cool. The best you can do when this happens is move on…and learn from it. So that’s what all these songs represent to me: the successes and failures of navigating every day life with the people and places around me. Have fun “mapping” this album – I hope some line or melody sticks with you. Until the next one, happy traveling… Jana |
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© 2005-2008 solbourn records |
