The songs:
perderte -(having lost you) was written about my grantfather who died last year. It is the first song using piano or harmonica that I've written. The noise at the end is a teapot that my mother gave me. This song was finishes before I started any of the other ones except for a slight bit of normalizing. I decided to go with the version that had the background english lyrics for the album, although for spanish speakers I recomend the other version without the English lyrics because it sounds more melodic to me.
desde aqui - (from here) I worked with Ian-Leif Plowes on this song. I came up with the title for the main guitar riff. I borrowed the electric guitar used in this song from my roommate Andrew Way (Figment, the RKs). I had never messed around with distortion or reverb or any effects so that was really fun. After I finished all of the instrumentals I figured out I wanted it to be about God and what he looks like from this particular point in time. I couldn't think of a better person to do the spoken word than Ian. It came out better than I'd hoped, and it only took him 10 minutes to write the lyrics. The panpipe like sound in the background is 40 bottles I sat at my kitchen table tuning them with water and a guitar tuner for an hour the recording of the 40s took about a minute.
ellipsis - I wrote the riff for this song at Dungeon Studios and James Mooreshire (Yonic, in the woods,Getaway Tricycle) was kind enought to let me use his recording setup to record it. I added some piano and a lead guitar and then recorded a pencil turned up really loud and let James write some words, he felt the song and wrote a poem about writer's block wich he dedicated to Amy. I added a chorus and mixed it down.
after it all - I had this guitar riff going through my head and wanted to fuck around with rhythm stops so I layed this down then asked my friend Prince Rob Kenzig to write some lyrics explaining that the song was called 'after it all' and that it could be taken two ways: after it all went down or running after it all. In my opinion the words he wrote give the impression of truths being handed down rather than lyrics to a song. The electric guitar I used was borrowed from Andrew Cox. I thought that nothing would fit better than keys in the background.
untitled - This is the first guitar lead I ever wrote its just a simple scale and a simple rhythm, but I put it in drop d and added some chords. I added a piano lead to it and had my friend Rikki Morris write a poem "using the word untitled many times." It was short and sweet, Danyelle Dias came over to record her spoken word to this song she read the poem out loud twice. I added this to the song then had Nicole Gonzalez come in and I left the room so she could record her part. I think the microwave in the background lends it a sense of urgency.
back to sleep - I was setting levels on the recording of this song when Andrew Cox (Figment, Jay-Z) started telling me about his dream online. He lives down the hall so I just had him come over and tell it into the mic. I added an alarm clock at the end because it seemed fitting. I feel this song is very trippy, the echo filled toy zither lends to a dream like state as I feel does the piano and guitars alternation.
all of you motherfuckers can go fuck yourselves - This song I wrote the night I wrote 'back to sleep' I wrote the lyrics at work listening to punk and thinking about how it all sounded pretty similar and simple, and I thought it was a great way to end the EP. Three power chords, two bass notes, and a handfull of piano notes later I had most of the song. I wrote a solo and titled the song. The spoken word at the begining is a sentiment I've herd a lot from other people and also a way to make fun of the fact that I used so much serious spoken word. The noise at the end is a toaster oven kitchen timer. I thought the ding was a great way to end the ep.