With the bass and drums down, Rhys flew to America to continue record pianos, organs and vocals. Here’s an extract from his online diary.
Elastic Studios, Reston, VA. USA.
2nd and 3rd July
Three days down on the US leg of the recording sessions for my second album. Four piano parts and three lots of Hammond organ are done. Everything sounds great so far.
The view from the studio
I write from the basement of a house in Reston, Virginia – about 30 minutes or so out of Washington DC. The very next room to mine is a recording studio, meaning I could stumble straight out of bed to hit the piano if I wanted. I don’t.
Travelled out Thursday night (July 2nd). Hideous delays on the runway at Heathrow. They were missing a piece of rubber apparently. Waited for plane to disintegrate on take-off but thankfully it held together OK. Highlights of the plane journey: watching In The Loop (very, very funny and definitely the most inventive swearing ever recorded) and sitting next to a Slovenian lady whose surname was ‘Rollova’. Thomas met me at the airport and we went for something to eat. I had jumbo shrimp stuffed with Monterey Jack cheese and wrapped in bacon. That’s good eating. See you in 2 stone. I love America. Their jumbo shrimp would have our king prawn in a fight any day.
Started slow on Friday. Got a nature fix with a quick walk at Great Falls [The actual waterfalls that gave Rhys' second album its name]. Then did a tour of local supermarkets buying in provisions for the session. Thomas’ wife Jane is away covering Michael Jackson’s funeral in LA (she’s a TV producer, not an upholsterer) so we’re aware there’s a risk we could go feral and start foraging in dustbins for food. Started making music around 4ish. Did piano on Red. I thought it would be a leisurely start but in fact it was like being plunged into the deep end. Of the ocean. We focused in straightaway on the middle 8. Thomas wanted me to double up the rhythm in both hands but accenting the notes I would have played. This is much, much harder than it sounds. I couldn’t get it. Maybe I was struggling because it was first up and I was a bit short of match fitness. Or maybe I’m just shit on the piano. Either way, we settled on a compromise, doubling up the bass and playing half time in the right hand. It sounds great. If a bit like Keane.
A word here about the art of rhythm playing. Whether it’s piano or guitar, the idea is to play something so well that no one ever notices it. I’ve got a lot better at it over the years, but it’s still something I struggle to get spot on. I think of it as hiding behind the drums. Or sitting in the cracks between kick, snare and bass note so that you only poke out when no one else is playing. Getting it right (at least for someone with my limited ability) requires self-flagellating attention to detail. The funny thing is that if you do get it right, people never hear the results. They’ll just hear one noise and not be able to pick out any individual elements. I love it. There’s just something perversely satisfying about the reward for labour being nothingness.
For jetlag reasons, that’s all we get done on day 1.
4th July fireworks - a waste of gunpowder and sky?
4th July
Today, we’re heading into DC for Independence Day fun and games so we crack straight on. We do pianos on Diamond Tears and Downhill. Both go down much faster than Red. Again Thomas’ contribution is pivotal. He knows when to leave things alone, but if something’s not working he can generally help me find the answer. Diamond Tears‘ problem section is the outro. The feel of the drums changes from straight to swinging. I end up playing something quite groovy (I mean that in the literal sense, not in the Neil-out-of-The-Young-Ones sense). It sounds a bit like Soul 2 Soul, in a good way. Next up: Downhill. We nailed the bass and drums in 4 takes back in London and the piano goes down equally smoothly. We keep a whole take, which I’m really pleased with.
Then we hit the Hammond.
Thomas and Leslie
Hammond organ, like Rhodes, tends to tie a track together really nicely, making sparse instrumentation sound really full. On the last album, we used a digital Korg organ, which sounded great, but this time we’re using the real deal. I’ll get back with technical specs another time but it’s a big dusty old beast. It sounds rich, thick and gritty. There’s an expression pedal which you use to kick out more volume. The more you press it down, the more you rev up the distortion. Then it hits the Leslie speaker, a massive wooden box of swirling goodness. A minor technical hitch: it keeps squeaking. It sounds like a mouse being revolved to death. Thomas has to take it to pieces. To do this, he straps something that resembles a miner’s helmet on. The fact that he even knows how to do all this reaffirms one of the key reasons I like working with him. I just wish he’d wear a white coat like the boffins from Abbey Road used to.
As well as being King Geek, he is a fearsome Hammond player. His work livens up Downhill no end. It’s great on the chorus. After leaving chords hanging in the intro and verses, he goes all rhythmic and propulsive, almost playing what you’d expect the electric guitar to cover. It’s very exciting.
We knock off early and head into DC. I get obligatory snaps of the White House and the monument. The fireworks are mind-blowingly massive in scale and seem to go on for hours. However, the highlight of the night is seeing Natasha Bedingfield sing I’m A Yankee Doodle Dandy with Big Bird off of Sesame Street. Introduced, via VT, by Barack Obama. After the fireworks, we retire to a nearby bar and drink a cocktail called Death In The Afternoon. It contains absinthe and champagne. That just seems right.
A DC barman makes us Death In The Afternoon. Why does he look so pleased?
5th July
A late start. Back to Hammonds. Thomas plays an unobtrusive textural part on Red then I play on Diamond Tears. My work includes the album’s first solo. I used to love guitar and keyboard solos as a kid but I got conditioned as I got older to think they were the Devil’s Work. I’m trying to get a bit of that innocent, joyful, for-the-love-of-it feel onto this record so I’m setting crappy adult prejudices aside and just going with it.
We close the day putting sparse piano down on Homes For Heroes. Thomas goes out (to do KUNG FU – wow) leaving me to finish some lyrics up. I’m determined there won’t be a single line that I’m not totally happy with. There are four up for grabs at the moment and I’m perpetually rewriting them in my head the whole time.
6th July
Three tracks, maybe four, are ready to sing on now so today I’m doing some vocals. This is the most nervewracking part of the process for me. It’s the most important thing on any record – a great performance is what draws the listener in. It’s very personal. And it’s very physical. It’s ultimately just controlled breathing in and out. Directing the air to the right bit of the roof of your mouth. Opening it in the right shape. You’re also a slave to factors almost beyond your control. Atmospheric conditions. Energy levels. Diet. Health. Hourly inspection of the contents of the tissue after blowing your nose is not unusual.
