the deep listen - day 3

The Deep Listen Day 3: We close out Side A of the record today! Let’s dive into “Salvage Yard”.

“For all those whose spirits have been battered or broken during this lockdown time… listen to this, and feel the joy.”
–American Songwriter

the song

behind the song

salvage yard

The bigger picture feels so abstract
waiting for these slots and pins to match
But life is made of pieces that don’t fit
So figure what to do with it
and bring it to the salvage yard

The winter of the soul can seem so long
eclipsing all that’s right and all wrong
Patience is a virtue you possess
You say, “Life’s a marathon at best,
living on a salvage…”

But it’s been so long…

It’s been so long
since we’ve seen the sun

EXTRAS

Salvage Yard (acoustic mix)

Salvage Yard (Space Echo + Mellotron)

Percussion is one of those things that you don’t notice unless it’s not there. Considering the amount of time and thought put into that element on the record, here’s an acoustic mix of “Salvage Yard” where Chuck’s percussion work is loud and clear. The second track is Jen’s isolated guitar at the end of the song with the space echo, followed by Henry’s two Mellotron parts. The bells were performed using an iPhone app, but the strings were played on the very real Mellotron at Mad Oak.

The pre-production process was as meticulous as it was fun. Still, sometimes you miss a spot. Nobody could remember the tempo we wanted this song at—either we forgot to write it down or forgot to record to a click during demoing. Deciding what the correct tempo was that day ate up a solid 20 minutes. (What’s that, you say? “It’s only a demo, just pick a damn tempo in the studio and stick with it”? Congratulations! You are now a record producer!)

We decided on 120bpm, by the way.

The second page continues the email conversation on drum groupings (this time, Group 3).

On a recent tour, we filmed a few songs for City Winery’s Cellar Sessions in New York. Here’s a live, stripped down performance of “Salvage Yard”.

Tomorrow we dive into Side B of the record!

Links
• Day 1 • Day 2

the deep listen - day 3

the song

behind the song

salvage yard

EXTRAS

Salvage Yard (acoustic mix)

Salvage Yard (Space Echo + Mellotron)

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