(Recording) From Another Morning

After years and years of songwriting, I decided it was time to document my songs in a tangible audible format that was not merely ringing in my head. I spoke to Ananth Menon a bluesman from the Bangalore band Galeeg Gurus. I half expected to be told to er, "fuck off".

We pored over my set list and gleaned a small list of songs that would be doable in a minimum budget discounted studio time of 8 hours. We were hungry to create something authentic and not contrived. Ananth wanted to record with the Jews Harp and  Didgeridoo. I loved what he brought to the table.

I wanted to keep my identity as a street singer without any overproduction, but I just loved Ananth's harmonies and got him to sing as many as he was willing to let me push him to sing, he needed no pushing. As a co-producer i feel Ananth is very focused. There was not a single moment in the studio when we were either rushed or stuck for ideas. I have worked with with enough musicians and sound engineers to know that the "not a minute wasted not a minute rushed" is often a pure fantasy.

This album represents me in it's entirety because I have always wanted to follow Bob Dylan's Cut and Run approach to making music. In my mind the gravitas is the songs, and Ananth was a great help in helping put the gravy where the meat is. It was a pure coincidence that our recording was done on Bob Dylan's 70th birthday.

This recording would have also been impossible without the genius contributions of Niranjan. Niranjan has a recording studio without a name in the heart of Bangalore. Complete with sound treated walls, nice high ceiling, air conditioning and plenty of moving space. I hate having to record in claustrophobia inducing confinements. He even had bean bags to flop into while listening to a mix. He did not waste a moment and he was totally locked into what we were trying to do in his facility which almost felt like he was enjoying doing what he did, attending to our sonic fetishes.

I insisted on keeping Ananth's cough before he belted out some Eagles'esq harmonies, after all it was the line about doing time in prison behind bars of rhyme. I hear Ananth Menon coughing a hundred floors above me in the tower of song. I could not resist that because Ananth and I have a common love for Leonard Cohen's songs. Ananth did a few random takes on my version of Cohen's Hallelujah, ah but that is another story from another world.