Like it or not

Today, October 27, I am releasing the song Dying of the Light. A song with the chorus by Dylan Thomas, who was born this day 100 years ago. The track is from my album The Rocket Swing, that will come out in February 2015 on Come Undone Records. The song is dedicated to Fleur Mainville who plays fiddle.
You can help us promote it by listening to the song or watching the video and:
Buy the song by dowloading it from bandcamp: http://diftong.bandcamp.com/
Like the video on http://youtu.be/WsSgtffcPTM
Like my Diftong page on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diftong
Share those links with your social media friends and ask them to do the same.
Tell your friends and family about the song and ask them to listen/watch.

Thank you.

Fleur

Things have taken a dramatic turn when Fleur Mainville who plays fiddle on three Rocket Swing tracks, was taken to hospital with serious health problems. This happened soon after the recordings were finished. Fleur had been treated for cancer before, but it returned and she has a real fight on her hands.
I am planning the release of a song about untimely death, a song that features Fleur. Which gives me an eerie and powerless feeling.
There is a "Friends for Fleur" event planned on October 29. https://www.facebook.com/events/835111796512334/. If you are living in Nova Scotia or PEI, go there. It features awesome music. And all I can do here is dedicate my song Dying of the Light to Fleur Mainville on the 27th. So that is what I am going to do.

Dying of the light

Two blog posts ago, my entry Wrapping up had it's picture modelled on a famous photograph of a famous person. I asked you who that person was. Nobody came up with the right answer. It was Dylan Thomas.
There is a song on The Rocket Swing called Dying of the Light. I was struggling with the chorus for this song, when I remembered a poem I had read in my Dylan Thomas Omnibus. I looked it up and saw right away that I would never be able to find words that were as good as his. So I decided to use his lines for the chorus. Which makes Dying of the Light a tribute to the work of this great poet.
Next October 27, we will release the song and a video to go with it. Dylan Thomas would have been 100 years old in 2014 and there is a celebration planned between October 27 (his birthday in 1914) and November 9 (his dying day in 1953).

http://www.dylanthomas.com/2014-centenary/

A mastered piece

My album has been mastered by http://archivemastering.com. I am not an expert, but from what I know mastering is adjusting the dynamics and the frequencies of the recordings in a way that they sound less restless, brighter, more open and much louder. Also it evens out the differences in volume between tracks on the album. I used to do this myself and couldn’t wait to hear my new album mastered by a professional. I wondered if I would be able to hear the difference between songs mastered by me and these ones. Well, I tell you I can. It is spectacular! No doubt Archive Mastering has better equipment, better ears and much more experience than I have, but still... wow! So this means, my dear readers, that the Rocket Swing is ready for take-off. All we have to do is finish the artwork and start the marketing campaign. You can help me make some noise. I will tell you how later.

Wrapping up

It is a logistic challenge to have musicians of your choice play on your record. They fly from festival to festival, from recording job to recording job. To make a long story short, we had to find another fiddle player and we found one. The recording of the Rocket Swing is now finished! The tracks have to be mastered, the artwork has to be designed, the CD has to be manufactured. And we have to make a marketing plan. Not my cup of tea, but it has to be done because if the album doesn’t sell, I cannot make another album.
The expected release is in February 2015. For those who cannot wait, I will release one of the songs with an accompanying video in October 2014. The picture that goes with this post is taken from that video. The first who knows from which famous person I stole the idea for this photo and who sends an e-mail to info(at)toonzettng.nl with the correct answer, will win a free CD.

The missing note

I thought one of the tracks on The Rocket Swing could do with some harmonica. I had it all figured out in my head, picked the harmonica in the appropriate key and started practicing. It sounded real good except for one note that was missing on that particular blues harp. I tried others and some did have that specific note but missed most of the others. How frustrating! I know I should be able to “bend a note” like real harmonica players can, but I could not get it right.
Somewhat disappointed I then tried harmonica on another song and this time it really worked well, so I recorded that and sent the recording to Canada. It will probably make it to the album.
To deal with future harmonica problems, I ordered one of those chromatic ones with a slide. That should have all the notes I want to play. Maybe the postman will bring it tomorrow.

Banjo Hey! Faster Banjo

I came across this excellent illustration of John Atkinson. It made me wonder about my own songs. What kind are there on the Rocket Swing CD? The opening track is about escaping to the country. It is an ode to a Volkswagen van, the equivalent of the famous truck in country music. Then there is a rock song about a tattoo, which is kind of alt.country. The title song is a lament. The album also has a folk song about the origin of the blues, a country waltz protest song, a finger-picking love song, a rocking murder ballad and a folky rant against the Grim Reaper. Then there is one track that is part acoustic finger-picking and part heavy rock and the album ends with a drinking song in country-rock tradition. All embedded in the Beatlelesque/West Coast sound of producer/guitarist Dale Murray. Can you still follow me? I guess you will just have to listen.

PS: Go to http://wronghands1.wordpress.com/ and look at the other work of John Atkinson