You're Not Alone

My contribution to the two-chord challenge. A sleepy little song with fingerpickin' guitar, piano, and some three part "harmony." I experiment a little more with my voice on this one.

I wrote and recorded this today while I was home sick with the flu, so, this could be rubbish. Also: I don't actually play piano. I'm totally fakin' it!

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by ORthey (15 comments total)

I think your voice sounds pretty great on this -- like a rusty tin can, well-worn but still with a sharp edge to it.

I also really like the part where the piano first comes in -- that sudden broadening of the stereo image is both surprising and warm.

Nicely done. It's rustic and cozy.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 1:54 AM on April 8

That's really nice. I think your warbly flu voice sounds great here; the piece has this irresistable front-porch feel that fits it really well.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:15 AM on April 8

You and chococat drive me nuts. At home with flu, kids and multitasking, you get better results than I'd get after months of careful planning.

Great as usual, man. I'm glad that you participated in this challenge.
posted by micayetoca at 10:58 AM on April 8

I wonder if one can get tired of hearing how great their songs are. I hope not, because I have to say it again. This is great!

The Your Not Alone choruses really grab me and don't sound like an experiment at all. Kick ass!
posted by snsranch at 5:07 PM on April 8

Yeah, the rusty tin can analogy totally fits. Maybe gives the song a different feeling than your standard voice would have?

Random question: have you ever done a song just with slide guitar?
posted by Corduroy at 7:53 PM on April 8

Great effortless feel (I think of that as one of your trademarks), completely free of the challenge's restriction. Wonderful work.
posted by edlundart at 11:13 PM on April 8

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments. snsranch, definitely not! I can't recall ever tiring of compliments :).

Random question: have you ever done a song just with slide guitar?

Hmm... not that I can remember. Maybe I should try that out! I'm not very handy with a slide, though, so it would have to be fairly simple.
posted by ORthey at 11:03 AM on April 9

Man, there's just piles of good stuff coming up around here lately. Really likeable, ORthey.
posted by cortex at 2:50 PM on April 9

Really nice. I liked the panned guitar overdubs particularly.

Get well.
posted by dagosto at 11:48 PM on April 9

The moment when the piano comes in at about 0:50 is magical. My only suggestion to make this any better would be to have that part earlier to GRAB the listener. Maybe a few bars of only fingerpicking guitar (no vocals) in the beginning, then start vocals and piano at the same time? Nice work.
posted by brickmachine at 6:19 AM on April 10

What a sweet song! I really like this. The guitar work, the piano, the vocal layering, all really nice. Love the lyrics.
posted by lovermont at 10:28 PM on April 10

Wow. This is a great performance. Great song. Great arrangement. Great!
posted by dobie at 12:07 PM on April 11

Another great song I neglected to comment on last week.
What can one say? Really nice. And that is some beautiful fakey piano playin'.
posted by chococat at 3:39 PM on April 13

I'm all about this track. The vocals are actually pretty indie-sounding...tinges of Conor Oberst in there perhaps?

Simple and enjoyable, well done..
posted by jdnason at 10:00 AM on April 20

You were sick when you recorded this, which may explain why the song is so sick (in the way the kids use that word these days). So good!
posted by Effigy2000 at 3:04 PM on April 29