Bridges/Divides is an exciting record for me for a multitude of reasons. The songs
are all-encompassing lyrically and help put the last year and a half into some degree
of context for me. It’s been a wild expanse of time with almost non-stop touring and
many countries traveled, Occupy, loss and new friends. In short it’s been a way of life
and I think the songs on this record reflect the sometimes unnerving ups and downs,
anger and reprieve of my little life.
The vast majority of the songs on Bridges/Divides were new and written in my living
room between tours, demo’d with a little snowball mic. I sent some songs to my buddy
Lance Koehler at Minimum Wage Recording in RVA to see what he got out of the
raw, skeletal songs that would eventually make up the record. We wound up booking
a week and taking a more full band approach in the end. The recording consisted
of me leaning on friends for the favor of their talents. Our “make-shift” band was
exactly that with a few friends coming in and out of the process and adding to the
overall aesthetic of the recording.
My personal favorite element of the record is that a lot of it was recorded “live” and it
still gives me the feel when listening that at any second it could all just fall apart and
that is exactly how i feel on a daily basis. That very feeling is a crucial element to most
of my favorite recordings and while I’m not saying we made some sort of masterpiece,
it is the first recording I’ve ever done where I’ve listened to it after the recording was in
the bag. No regrets on song choice, vocals or lyrical content. I think this recording is a
perfect document of where I was and wasn’t.
Is it different? Yes. Is it a departure? I’d say wait for the next one, the new songs are
fucked.
- Jeff Rowe
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