We do it, most of the time

This is the last song on our new record. It's also about to be the subject of our first music video. . . "Do What We Can." This is actually an older song for us, written as best I can recall sometime in 2004. Finally, we get this one out of the Houstons system. It's a simple one, but it rings in the ears, and the recording really took on a life of its own. One take on most passes, including vocals. One of those bursts that I love.

This song is _not_ about doing the minimum necessary, not at all.

Do What We Can

I'm so glad you left me
I left the leaving to you
And you made it sound so polite
But I can't say, I can't say
I can't say I'm surprised
Well, would you

And I know that I could do better
But we do what we can, do what we can
Do what we can most of the time, yeah

And now there's finally life in the neighborhood
It's coming around like you said that it could
But is it too late?
It sure feels good, sure feels good
Sure feels good for the moment anyway

And we're both still awake
We could pass it off as a chronic cough yeah
We're still trying, we're still trying
We're still trying to do what we can

All We Ever Wanted

All We Ever Wanted

Do you know what's right to do
Even as you don't quite do it
Blame it on the winds of love
Blame it like there's nothing to it
Desire is a funny thing
The sun won't shine and the phone won't ring
Laws of nature have been broken
The ground is cracked and the dust will choke us

And I walked away from the devil's love
And the icy stares I'd fantasized of
No wings are fast enough, believe me
When the brownest eyes in the ground release me
Desire is a funny thing
The sun won't shine and the phone won't ring

All we ever wanted, all we ever had was love
All we ever wanted, all we ever needed, love

Coming back was always given
And it never matters how we've been living
Blame on the winds of darkness
When the earth is dry it always sparks this
Desire is a funny thing
The sun won't shine and the phone won't ring

All we ever wanted, all we ever had was love
All we ever wanted, all we ever needed, love

Boyfriend

Here's another new track (the newest track off The Archer), "Boyfriend". It's sexually vague, quasi-flirtatious, relatively noncommittal, and, generally speaking, generally speaking. Enjoy:

Boyfriend


Pick up the stick and begin to ride
Renovate the chambers of our hearts this time
There's a party in pink, give it one more try
Smoke like water forms clouds in the sky
We eat at the table of our mothers' true love

I want to be your boyfriend
Run around in the grass and then flatten it
Sing songs to the sky in a foreign language
Kick our shoes away and never put them on again

Play a trick on the body to infuse the mind
Procreate and hope for a better time
And when we grow up we get lost in the woods
Trees of the dying never thought that we would
Pull them from the roots and demand the truth, no

Won't you be my girlfriend
Run around in the grass and then flatten it
Sing songs to the sky in a foreign language
Kick our shoes away and never put them on again

And when we grow up we satisfy
Something written in the blood of the sky, it's madness
You radiate through the sadness, that's why
I want you to be mine

I want to be your boyfriend
Run around in the grass and then flatten it
Sing songs to the sky in a foreign language
Kick our shoes away and never put them on again

Wasted Youth

I'm in love with a place
I used to run as a child
And it's been a bear getting there,
in truth it's been quite a while.
Quite a while

But you, you know just what to do,
I will follow you without complaining
Two lanes run opposite ways,
chest pains from when it wouldn't stop
No it wouldn't stop

No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children
No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children

And all of that crime was a symphony
that played my heart to sleep
And it's dark on the lake where we swim,
it's much darker than I like when I'm diving
Ad I'm diving

No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children
No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children

I want to do right one way
But there's a thousand ways to go wrong
Two voices singing opposite songs
Chest pains from when it all went wrong
. . .

No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children
No, we are not wasted youth
We are not wasted children

Justin Faircloth, 2009

ever heard yourself recorded?

Sometimes it's hard. Particularly when mixing a record, or mastering a record, editing tracks, and the like. I've been doing this for a long time now and you'd think I'd be over it. But sometimes it's like: "who the hell is that singing, why does he suck so bad, and why did he rip off my lyrics so shamelessly?" Can't that be fixed in the mix?

No. It can't. No self-worth knob I'm afraid. It's the necessary waking-up into the sunshine when I'd really rather roll over.

I am most pleased with this record we are finishing, despite the prior ramblings to the wind. It's good, as in a step forward, a necessary purge, and a balancing act between past and future. Good. We decided to call it "The Archer", in the warrior sense. It's mythological. . . Arjuna, and Athena. Choose your preference. There are many subtler archers, of course, as in Ellen's picture of the bridge. As we cross it, I hope we make peace with the past. That's a novel idea.

Dave's masters sound great. More soon-

Chimney Rock

So, I figure that this is a fine place to post our lyrics for our upcoming release, The Archer. Here's "Chimney Rock". The lyrics are somewhat abstract and light-headed. I had been climbing.

Point of quasi-interest: we called this song, well, "This Song" for about 6 months. It lead to all sorts of ridiculous Who's On First-type situations. . ."what are we playing next? This Song. What song? Grrrr."

Anyhow:

Chimney Rock

Come here, just a little closer
I want to hear what you have to say, now
I miss you, it's all that I brought
Somehow, we got distracted

This song, stuck in the wrong key
You sing even though it sounds funny
This song, drops a beat
I think it sounds sweet, you think it sounds funny

Come here, just a little closer
You've been standing like a lion
You can hear the words I'm crying
From the top of Chimney Rock today

This song, stuck in the wrong key
You sing even though it sounds funny
This song, drops a beat
I think it sounds sweet, you think it sounds funny

Come here, just a little closer
When the grass is green and the sun is shining
You can hear the words I'm crying
From the top of Chimney Rock today

new songs up tonight

Ok, we (that's Matt and I) are proud to introduce a number of the tracks off of our new record, The Archer. See the website, www.houstonsmusic.com, to check out the tracks! These are unmastered mixes done by Mitch Easter and recorded by Matt and me, with the help of Mark Lynch. Enjoy!

baking is an art

Matt and I are making a record the old fashioned way. This is new for us, in that we are sitting down, hitting record, and playing the songs like we do it live. No click tracks, overdubbed synth layers, multiple guitars, no wonderful friends on extra instruments, etc. Not this time. Somebody (or bodies) had to hypnotize us to make it happen it seems, to avoid the kicking and screaming. One armed this, bare feet that. like we do it, and that feels right and feels free.

Nevertheless, we are putting the vocals in later and that's where it starts to feel like baking cookies. We get the ingredients in just right , yet it still feels empty until the last piece is in and we apply the heat, the sonic glue that holds everything together, then all of a sudden either it's happening or it's just not.

"Wasted Youth" sounds freaking incredible. Our dear friend, the beautiful Anna G., did some fantastic vocal work. "This Song", up next and not far off. Stevie is coming in to sing on "Confederate Dunce".
n
I have the new song "Boyfriend" that I thought sounded great, up burning the midnight oil to V's chagrin and loss of rest, only to find the next day that it was complete yacht rock. I swear, we have no fold-out mirror on the console. Not these days. But I wonder if I can knock the bottom out (the reason drums), replace with kit, and that make the difference. It's still on the grid. . . we'll see.

Working title for the upcoming EP: "The Archer". dbrk knows what this means. sarah too. Oh, another major announcement coming up first of the week. . . j

beat us over the head

It only takes us corporal punishment and traces of sadism to change our ways, really.

In our latest recordings, Matt and I are finally trying what warm-blooded friends have asked, prodded, and demanded that we do for years: make a record that consists of what we no live and little to nothing else. Well, that effort is finally underway. And guess what? Early indications are that it sounds really wonderful. Mark Lynch is helping with the recording tasks and aesthetic choices, and he basically put his foot down on electronic loops, subtle overdubs, synthy bits and the like that I so love. The songs that we are recording are raw, flawed, one-armed, and barefooted. Vocals come this weekend.

Of course this only opens the door for a 180-degree shift in what the next record may entail. (and please forgive the use of the lovely word "record". . .I won't give it up, nor what it represents, even as we embrace the digitalism). Artistically, things are happening and we dig it.

Did I mention a new label relationship is in the works too? More on that soon.

this confederacy, this war.

Lyrics from an older, unreleased song that we resurrected and are set to release later this year. It seems more appropriate than ever, in some ways.

Confederate Dunce

Get back to Carolina

You know what it is, know what it is, yeah you know what it is

Been there once, had a few friends that never left

Yeah, confederate dunce

Asleep in the road

I thought he’d be dead, thought he’d be dead, yeah thought he’d be dead

But keeping it simple keeps you safe in bed

Down with your man, and

What’s the matter with that?

Isn’t it what you were born to do?

Animals do it and so should you

But you’re the one who slips through the cracks

So get back home to bed

And the magazines you already read

Why don’t you chew on that, chew on that, chew on that

It’s American fat

Yeah, the victim is kicking your ass

He knows what hurts, knows what hurts, yeah knows what hurts

Knows no better than to hide in church, down with the plan, and

What’s the matter with that?

Everything, oh, everything

When you bolted and the bolt burned

You quietly returned

And the minutes will never tick back

Replace the skin with shellac

You’re the one who slips through the cracks

Get back to Carolina

I’m almost broke, almost broke, yeah almost broke

Career is a joke

And I knew you had it coming when you reached for the yoke

And it went to your head

Yeah, the pitfall. You’re already dead, already dead

With the wherewithal

To walk the strip, wear the hot pants and take all the lip, yes, and

What’s the matter with that?

Isn’t it what you were born to do?

Animals do it and so should you

But you’re the one who slips through the cracks

You're the one who slips through the cracks.

Words and music, Justin Faircloth

jalapeno

We wrote a new song last night. . . as yet unnamed but conceptually it came from dinner, over a couple Bell's ales and a mexican pizza with fresh jalapenos. The idea is one of a love that you know is going to hurt, and in some small sadistic way the expectancy is exciting, the precursor to the hurt. The spiciness!

Matt is into full force experimentation and refinement on the Moog Voyager, and this song came together in a hurry. It was written very softly, similar to our older song Do What We Can in that it is right now a series of verses bounded by instrumental sections with a very small variation in structure. That is subject to change, of course, always. I just remembered that I dreamed the refrain last night and haven't tried it yet. We'll see.

out of the dark

Hi all--
Apperently the blogger in me took a long winter's nap there for a bit, and. . .now it's august. A quick update: Matt and I are working on a new EP and speaking with a few industry friends (no, not an oxymoron nor moron) on a release plan. Check out the new site! Designed by super-Virginia, you can find it at: www.houstonsmusic.com.

We need more video? Anyone holding on to any that you might share? Hit me up here.

Welcome, welcome back, and I promise there's more to come soon. Justin