In the midst of holiday chaos, my band just snuck out a little Christmas EP. With a deadline looming that turns the EP into a pumpkin (or yule log?) on December 26th, we had to work fast and furiously (I mean merrily) to complete it. This afforded us no time to overthink or over-experiment in the studio, which was kind of refreshing. We tried to keep things simple and light. I really hope you enjoy listening to it; I loved making it. From my perspective, there are a few production notes worth noting:
- I don’t play conventional electric bass on this at all. On one song, I’m replaced by tuba. On another, I play upright bass (hadn’t touched one in about 10 years!). And on another song, I play with a pick, which is super rare for me. I was trying to emulate a sort of tic tac bass tone.
- The guests! The great Diane Monroe plays a ripping violin solo on “Christmas Eve Dream.” Members of West Philadelphia Orchestra play on the slightly NOLA flavored odd time rendition of “Once In Royal David’s City,” along with Vince Tampio on dueling trumpets. Emily Drinker does some delightful duet-ing with Aaron on “Christmas Eve Dream” and “The Market.” Logan Roth lends his keyboard wizardry…everywhere.
It is honestly such an honor to work with the guys in The Right Fiction. It’s a band in the truest sense – the four of us have naturally fallen into a dynamic that works. They make me better, and I hope they might say the same about me. We are all in a ruthless quest to make the best possible thing we can make and will check our egos to get there. Our full album of non-Christmas tunes will be out in early 2023. I can’t wait to share that one – more soon! And there’s always our podcast if you want to engage and/or argue with us on a musical level.
Happy Holidays!