Pianosong

Recorded quick, titled in a hurry. Kind of sappy with an out-of-tune piano.

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posted by chococat (9 comments total)

I think it's pretty sweet. The piano sounds cool, and that's a really good late-night voice you've got going there. I like the ascending melody of the chorus, too.

I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the drums -- I love drum machines but this isn't doing it for me. I feel like it's too "cheap lounge-y" and tips things from sappy to schmaltzy.

I'd really like to hear a version with the drums turned down all the way, or maybe replaced with, say, a shaker and a tamborine...or claves...
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 3:19 AM on May 13, 2007

Hey, good to see you back. And good that you are still posting the rpm songs, I think their player never actually got off the ground and you can only hear one there.

I too like the sound of that piano. Is it the one you used in Toronto (the song)?
posted by micayetoca at 8:31 AM on May 13, 2007

Lovely, man.
posted by cortex at 8:40 AM on May 13, 2007

Thanks for the comments, guys.
Ya, this was recorded super quick for the RPM thing. I actually recorded the piano for this on the first day of February and then abandoned it 'til a day or two before the deadline.
Strangely enough, the drums are actually the one part of the song that I really like. I kind of suck at playing/recording drums, but I was happy with the sound of the drum track this time (it's not a drum machine.)
It's a different piano than in Toronto (that was my neighbour's.)
This one is ours, which went horribly out of tune in the freezing cold of February and I tried to tune it with a pair of pliers.
posted by chococat at 9:26 AM on May 13, 2007

I knew it was real drums! I second guessed when Karlos the Jackal said it was a machine but I knew they were drums.

About your drumming: funny that you say you suck, it was one of the first things that caught my attention about your songs. In RoomAtTheEndOfTheHall you gave plain country a nice twist and I think In The Rain couldn't have had better drumming. That's playing. I won't even get started with your recording skills 'cause people here are going to start thinking you actually pay me to write your encomiums.
posted by micayetoca at 9:42 AM on May 13, 2007

I stand corrected! How embarrassing!

Maybe the drums are just too high in the mix for me -- if it's the "one part of the song that (you) really like" maybe you've got it higher up in the mix than I would. They just kinda take over the song for me.

But, you know, IMO etc etc.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 4:47 PM on May 13, 2007

Sounds like you are trying not to wake up someone in the other room while recording the vocals here. Gives it a very cool, quiet and slightly nervous affect. Nice.
posted by markulus at 3:41 PM on May 15, 2007

No Karlos, I am with you, the drums are too bright and they do sound mechanical.

The piano and vocals are great though.
posted by Ynoxas at 11:22 PM on June 1, 2007

With some months in between I can see what you're saying. At the time I thought the drums were sort of "imagine" era Lennon-ish, but now they seem to me to be kind of steam-powered ELO sounding. Still, I wouldn't change them as maybe they were hiding something in the rest of the song, it was too raw at the time, as I remember. It's a song I've really never listened to much, so this is it's fate.
posted by chococat at 12:02 AM on January 3, 2008