StrawBerry Attic

"Tonight To Sea" is the twelfth song of the Vacant Sky Parlor album "Octopus Zoo". This is sort of the closing song of the album that washes everything away in ocean and synths. Kind of a quiet one.. drifting and sinking away.

• Tonight To Sea (mp3)

Here's track 10, "Octopus Zoo".. the title track of the album. This is a reworking of a song I recorded as StrawBerry Yoga back in 1993. I think I gave out maybe two copies of that album ("Garbage") on tape. It was some lo-fi noise freak-folk kind of something or other. It's a strange song, seeming to meander a bit at the beginning, until it takes off into a danceable pop bit and destroys itself in a climax of noise and confusion. The bonus song is a different mix of "Octopus Zoo" that is just even noisier and stranger.

• Octopus Zoo (mp3)
• bonus 10 (garbage) (mp3)

"Honey Lamb" is sort of bit of a hopping groovy song of sorts until the halfway mark it jets off into a rising barrage of descending chords and percussion. The b-side is a lo-fi sounding alternate mix in an attempt to emulate the sound of an old cassette tape copy of a vinyl record.

• Honey Lamb (mp3)
• bonus 8 (let's meander) (mp3)

"Nor a Drop to Drink" is one of the longer songs on the album. It goes through several sections and, I think, it is a bit of journey from start to finish like a storm building. The b-side is a stripped down mix revealing primarily the background instruments.

• Nor a Drop to Drink (mp3)
• bonus 6 (rime) (mp3)

I am going to release the album one track per week.. each track with an accompanying bonus track. Here's the first 3 to get you started:

1. Lovely Day (mp3)
2. Sunlight Shines (mp3)
3. Gone Fishing (mp3)

1. bonus 1 (lovely dream) (mp3)
2. bonus 2 (now i'm thirsty) (mp3)
3. bonus 3 (figures) (mp3)

Did work on more songs last night, and things are coming along nicely. I did a few things to "Lovely Day", and "Sunlight Shines" that I wanted to do. Unfortunately, in the process I ended up increasing the volume of the main snare drum a bit too much, so I need to return and bring that back to a more rational level. I believe the drums over all are a bit high, but it's the snare that's doing real damage. For "Sunlight Shines", it's pretty much done.. I just wanted to simplify the first chorus so that it wasn't at the same intensity as the next two choruses.

For "Vegetable Scream", there were a few small changes I wanted to make to the ending, and I did that. Mainly I wanted to take the last piano note out, and I did that.. as well as created some odd effects with other instruments in place of that note.

And also, in "Honey Lamb", I increased the overall volume and gave a bit more power to the track. It's still kind of weak in comparison to the others, but it's almost there. I don't want to do too much mastering work on it until the vocals are done though.

I'm glad I'm working on this again.
It's going to be a busy summer semester, but I think I'll get this album done.
Finally.