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Songs-Comments from Jamie Masefield
XENOBLAST- This was an effort to delve into the jungle, drum & bass vibe a little bit which is something I've been interested in lately. It's ironic to us that computers and machines have been copying musical instruments-now we're changing the tide and acoustic instruments are mimicking them. This tune is very different from any tune we've done so far.
DOUBLE AGENT- The head to this piece was originally inspired by some tunes by Jim Hall on his album called "Dialogues". It has a call and response between the mandolin and bass during the melody and then eventually takes on what some people have thought of as a James Bond feel.
THE MILLIKEN WAY- This piece starts off with a skipping Irish jig feel and eventually develops into a circular chord progression that gains energy and momentum and goes on a journey that's fun to drive in the car to.
SPIDERS- Chris and Ari and myself co-wrote this during rehearsal. After playing the head it goes totally open allowing us to go in all kinds of different places. The epic journey on the album is totally improvised and will never be played that way again. It reaches an outrageous spot with Chris hitting his "nuclear" button and then the journey is concluded with Ari quoting "Itsy Bitsy Spider" on the drums with his hands and elbows before playing the head out.
JOVAN- That was my tip-of-the-hat to the Beatles. I've always loved "Here, There, and Everywhere", "Michelle", and all those ballads that just unfold so beautifully. Those are harmonically rich, excellently crafted tunes that I really admire. Jovan is the name of a perfume that a woman from Europe was wearing who I met and never saw again.
DROMEDARY- I was experimenting with fourth intervals in the head and then added that Russian-like march intro. It eventually develops into a funk-hip-hop groove that's fun to jam over. This is the easiest tune for Chris to play because all he does is play a C# on the offbeat for half of the song.
SHAKER HILL- With the mandola and triangle this piece takes on a new lighter feel than the rest of the album. It has a pastoral feel and is named after a hill near me in Vermont. This was the first piece that popped up after receiving my custom built "cylinder back" mandola.
IGOR- This is the most elaborate piece I've written to date and is of course homage to the great Igor Stravinsky. A very difficult piece, it's inspired by pieces such as L'histoire du Soldat, The Rite Of Spring, and the Firebird Suite. It's all written on paper and is more like a suite itself. Several parts of it are in 5/4. Stravinsky was known for writing in odd time signatures.
HANG TEN- While we were recording, this happened spontaneously late one night when Trey {Anastasio} sat in and we just had a big jam session. We played for about two hours straight and this chunk of music just popped out of nowhere and unraveled very logically. Chris plays electric bass on this. It certainly isn't jazzy but it's something that we all got a big kick out of. It's more about fun and sheer energy.
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