Settle In, Silence

Three years ago, or was it four, I lived in a recording studio with my other half and wonderful things happened there. But of all the things we did and of all the albums that were made, this one holds a special place for us. I have never in my life been a witness to such creative outpouring, such talent, such collaboration. If you do not know them, Hello Evening, is Kevin Yoches and Nissan Perera and the two of them have been making music since they met in college in Santa Cruz years and years ago. This is their third full length album. I hope it is not their last. The entire album was written and recorded in about a week. We picked Nisan up at the airport, he had his guitar and a few ideas he’d been chewing on. The studio space we lived in didn’t have windows, it had a sky light. It felt like a ship. We had little to no concept of day or night and as a result the boys worked around the clock. Nisan who was allergic to our cat slept in a tent in the living room. I laugh every time think about it. They would leave now and then for food or more beer. Sometimes Kevin would need a surf between guitar tracks, which Nisan loved. And I amidst this, I watched. I cooked for them, I made coffee. I provided, I hope, some mindless conversation and entertainment while they worked, and often times I slept either on the floor or nestled up stairs in my bed listening to drums and laughter come up through the floorboards. And when the times came, I wrote, we wrote. Nisan and I would sit for hours at the makeshift kitchen table writing lyrics, Kevin chiming in with hilarious and often ingenious lines to break us through when we got stuck. I could go on for hours about what these songs remind me of, what they are about, or put them into context. But I wont. Those are our secrets. I am so proud of these men. They are so special to me. I am proud of myself for being a part of it. The time between the album being made and now it being released was literally just life. Life got in the way, or not so much in the way as it just happened, and it happened fast. Things changed. And this album waited for us, this secret and perfect piece of a time we can never have again. It is a piece of my heart, as are the men who made it. And I am beyond thrilled to share it with the world. The album is live on Bandcamp for a “name your own price” special deal. Enjoy, and please share it with your world.

lyrics to Settle In

it comes over you every once in a little while
that things that set your apart are the things that make you unkind
we’d made promises about the people we’d mean to be
but every shot took a drink, and every turn turned to repeat

it was the best you ever were at the start of things
with our shirts hanging on the line, when the smell of grace passed for wine
the light ran down your spine on a blanket with braided hair
i don’t remember the knowing going or how already got there

we’ll meet out front after you settle in
when the smoke clears from the summer and the middle we’ve floated into doesn’t seem so strange, doesn’t seem so strange

shook off the tough shakes and crossed the bad lakes that keep me separate from where i was
you could have written the same story if you had broken off when i was done
you let the ice melt in your drink to good parts of the joke
that part happens to everyone and revisits where we had begun

we’ll count our years from the lights behind the bar
take comfort in that where you went is not that far and doesn’t seem so strange, doesn’t seem so strange

everything worth telling doesn’t have to come out just now
all those people that you were in between those folded pages, brought us back to this town
just take me home and say “you could always settle down”
in the bad days of june when the corners of my mind don’t seem so strange, doesn’t seem so strange