I’m just about to record some additional vocals for a new song called “London Dream” & thought I’d share a picture with you all. Once these vocals are done, this song moves to the mixing stage. I can’t wait to share this song with you all…it holds a very special place in my heart.
See you soon,
Matt
Happy November everybody!
Chris here, writing from the chilly mid-west to say that two brand new Cluthe/Lee songs have been posted! November is going to be a busy month with new tunes. We plan on releasing a couple more next Friday and possibly 2 more the Friday after that! We’ve got quite a backlog of songs that we’re working through and have decided not to write any new one’s until these songs get out to you all.
Brings Me Warmth was written back in August and is another “open D” composition of mine. I seem to favor that tuning for some reason (see “A Harmless Song”, “In A Corner”‘). I don’t know. Just something about the strange-ness of that tuning that appeals to me. I had this song worked up with drums and acoustic guitar and Matt came in and added some amazing guitar work/vocals pretty quickly.
Walking Dead is a very creepy sounding song that was written the week of Halloween. Over our ACL trip Matt gave me a bunch of The Black Keys records to listen to and all October I was hooked. I tried writing a simple little blues tune. Took a very simple approach recording just one guitar track and drums. Matt does the rest! He told me he was very inspired and swept up in all the spookiness of the week and somehow channeled that into his vocals/lyrics/guitar. Listen for the whammy dives he does on the song. The bass line Matt plays is FREAKING AWESOME. Get your headphones on kids and feel the bass!
Both of these tunes are quite different from one another which keeps to the spirit of the Cluthe/Lee method now over a year old! If you’re wondering about the pic at the top, it’s from the Field Museum in Chicago. I took it last year in late August feeling quite inspired and hyped up over the new musical relationship that had started. I still feel like it is a nice representation of what we’ve done. Maybe I’m getting too deep here? Ok, anyway! Ha! Quick update on our second record. We’ve decided to call it “Life Can Go” and will be submitting it for copyright this weekend! Whooo!! Not sure on the time table for digital/physical release, but stay tuned here for news and you’ll be the first to know!
Brings Me Warmth (August 2010)
Lee: (music) – Drums, 6 string acoustic
Cluthe: (words) – Vocals, Fender Jazz Bass, Lead Guitar(s)
Walking Dead (October 2010)
Lee: (music) – Drums, Epiphone Les Paul
Cluthe: (words) – Vocals, Fender Jazz Bass, Lead Guitar(s)
Thanks all! We love you and stuff 🙂
Chris and Matt
Greetings friends and family!
It’s been a good long while since we last updated you all. October has been an extremely busy month for both Matt and I. Lots of travel for us in different places. We did finally get to have that jam session when we (and our wives) met for the first time in Austin, Texas about 2 weeks ago. It was a completely surreal moment for us all. See picture above. We all had a great time at the Austin City Limits Music Festival while there and got to see/eat/drink a good deal of Austin. We enjoyed it so much that there are already plans to attend all 3 days of the festival next September!
This past weekend Matt and I finally settled back into the music and finished up the final mixes, and track sequencing for the second album. The new mixes have new parts added to them that give them quite a punch. Matt and I both think this second album is largely different than our debut “Here We Are.” We have included a hidden track on this album and have plans to submit a grouping of tunes outside the album that may come out as an EP or b-sides down the line. Before we submit for copyright we have to name it. There are several titles being thrown around, all of which are fitting. We’ll keep you posted on when the second album is available for download. There has even been some chatter about a potential vinyl release?! Shhhhh…..don’t say anything yet! Ha!
While we’ve been chipping away at making the songs on this second album sound as good as possible, we’ve also been VERY busy writing new music. As of tonight we have 5-6 new songs that are in various stages of completion. Most have been written since mid-July and are all very different in tone. These new ones will start trickling out 1-2 at a time as we start closing in on the end of 2010!
That’s about it from here. Thank you all so much for your continued love and support! We love you back!
Cluthe/Lee
Hey everyone—
Matt here. We just wanted to update you all on a few things & let you know that our latest song, Drop of Rain, will be posted either today or tomorrow. Drop of Rain has come a long way. I recorded the basic track a few weeks ago & sent it off to Chris. Once he finished all of his parts, he sent it back. I had mentioned that I wanted to add some piano to the song, so I did. This song has about 5-6 different mixes that I’m aware of…some with more of this, some with less of that. For one reason or another, it has been “almost finished” for a very long time. We’re both happy to say that it is finished! Chris—thanks for your patience, man!
So, Drop of Rain will appear on our pages either tonight or tomorrow. When it goes live, you can hear it HERE: www.reverbnation.com/presentlyfalling & HERE: www.myspace.com/presentlyfalling
In Other Cluthe/Lee news….
-Chris & his wife are coming to Texas next weekend! They (along with Laurel & I) will be heading to ACL Music Festival & we can’t wait! It’s going to be great to sit in the same room & play some songs! We’re going to try to play a small set somewhere, but it is ACL weekend…so it might be tough to land a quick booking. But, we’re trying! Over a year of writing/recording/collaborating/mixing….and we’re finally going to meet after writing close to 75 songs. Can’t wait!
-There are several new ideas floating between us—each song is in a different stage and I’ve been able to make some vocal headway over the last 2 days. Looking forward to sharing them with you all.
-LP #2 (still untitled at this point) is just about ready to be submitted for copyright! We are pleased to announce that my sister, Maura is once again on board to design the artwork! We can’t wait to see what she comes up with! Up until now, we’ve kept the tracklisting silent…but now seems like a good time to share it with you all! You can hear early mixes of all of these songs on our reverb page.
Cluthe/Lee
LP #2
1. In A Corner
2. This Is…
3. Abbreviated
4. Oh, My Darling
5. Orwell’s Warning
6. Pieces Apart
7. Defrost Mode!
8. Grown
9. On A Wire
10. Hoping For A Miracle
11. Reels Fly By
12. Life Can Go
13. Don’t Question
14. Not Listening
Plus, there will be a couple of bsides. We may release a single or two….for now, those will remain a secret!
That’s it for now. Hope this email finds you all well. We’ll have another update before next weekend. Until then, thanks for listening & thank you for your constant support!
Matt
Howdy partner’s! Chris here writing to let you know about “Elevator Music” which has been officially released for you all to hear on our Myspace page and Reverbnation page.
This song was developed mid-August and was inspired in part by a Ryan Adams and The Cardinals tune I had been listening to. There was something that struck me about that song’s structure that had me reaching for my guitar. Matt got a working track and had vocals on it quicker than normal. He tells me the lyrics were written awhile back and felt like they’d be perfect on this song. It’s a mellow tune overall and I hope you guys and gals enjoy it!
As of yesterday we are nearly finished with editing the track list for our second LP. Major progress has been made since the last update! The songs have been sent to our artist/designer to begin the process of developing artwork. Still untitled as of now, and quite different from “Here We Are” in many ways. The process of getting this next LP out will be a bit more paced I’m thinking. No time table for release has been set, but the wheels are in motion. For now we continue writing new songs all the time and have been enjoying the positive feedback on “Here We Are.” We thank you all so very much for your kind words and improv album ‘reviews’ you’ve sent us. You all make this possible for Matt and I in so many ways and we cannot thank you enough! Matt and I will finally get to meet in about 3 weeks for Austin City Limits Festival. A long overdue meeting!
Stay tuned…
“Elevator Music”
Cluthe: Words/Vocals, Guitar
Lee: Music, Drums, Guitar, Bass, Piano, Mixing
Greetings Earthlings
Chris here from stormy Columbia, MO typing up an update on 2 brand new songs that are ready for you to enjoy! Both of these tunes are part of a productive summer period of writing and these are the two newest to come from those sessions. Both are Cluthe compositions and once more showcase the musical flex both of us have and continue to develop as musicians.
“Coming Through”
Cluthe: Music/Lyrics/Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Lead Guitar/Bass/Production & Mixing
Lee: All percussion/Lead Guitars
This song built up immediate steam when I got the demo and had so many elements thrown into it that mixing was pretty tough for Matt! This song features 3 electric solos, which is a first for us. Coming Through has an amazingly unpredictable flow to it. Listening to the finished mix it seems to come to this apex, slow down and then break through stronger than before. Matt and I both agree that the last minute of the song is one of our finest moments making music together. Matt had actually gone back and added this awesome chunky rhythm guitar that matches up so well with the other elements. Several times in the mixing process we each listened with the same amazement like “who are these guys?” Ha!
“His Voice”
Cluthe: Music/Lyrics/Vocals/Acoustic & Electric Rhythm and Lead Guitar/Bass
Lee: All percussion/Organ Keys/Lead Guitars
This song couldn’t be more opposite of Coming Through in my opinion. Matt and I both really love Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and I told him that this song reminded me of them. On this song I was feeling more comfortable on the drum kit than ever and started incorporating more fills than I usually do. I love challenging myself musically and this song REALLY put my abilities to the test. Matt’s story telling in His Voice is great. I always feel like there’s an instant sense of relating to what he’s saying to us. I feel so lucky to have such a great songwriter by my side. Truly inspiring you guys…
In other news, there are 100 copies of Here We Are flying somewhere over Pennsylvania as we speak on there way to my house. They arrive tomorrow and we’re both poised to start sending these out to all who ordered. We’ll have extra copies, so if you didn’t order one and want one, let us know by sending an e-mail to presentlyfalling@gmail.com
There are about 4 more songs left from our productive summer that are being worked on and we can’t wait to share them! Thanks for all your love and support gang! We love you back!
Chris
hey everyone…
matt here. just wanted to give you all a quick update on some C/L stuff:
-we’ve placed the manufacturing order for the cd copies of Here We Are. they should get to us by the end of next week. we’ll use that weekend to get all of the shipping/order info in order and then….we’ll be shipping the cds to you! like we’ve mentioned before, international orders will take longer. we’re beyond excited to get them out to you & we really think that the artwork will blow you away. (thanks, Mo!)
-also, we’ll still have some copies of Here We Areleft, so shoot us an email (presentlyfalling@gmail.com) for more info on how you can order your copy.
-right now, i’m taking a quick mixing break. two new songs (Coming Through/His Voice) are on the verge of being released. i wrote both of them very spontaneously and once Chris got ahold of them, they took on a new life. we hope to have those posted on our pages in the next day or two. in the meantime, check out two new songs (Can’t Retrace/Hold) that we posted last week!
-one more thing….Chris & I were interviewed a few weeks back by our friend Donny who hosts a weekly podcast called “All That’s Sacred.” we were really excited that he asked us to come on & talk about our fun music collaboration. you can find it on episode #60 and here’s the address: www.allthatssacred.net (Cheers, Donny!)
ok, i think that’s about it for now…..let me double check.
yup.
thanks, everyone……
Matt
Hi faithful Cluthe/Lee listeners!
I haven’t done an update in some time and figured now would be a good time to fire my blogging skills back up again! Ha!
Two brand new songs have just been finished; Hold and Can’t Retrace. They are posted both at www.reverbnation.com/presentlyfalling and at www.myspace.com/presentlyfalling
Matt and I have both had much of our attention focused on getting the pre-orders for our debut LP “Here We Are” organized and as of today have finished taking orders for a CD copy. The order for the CDs is being placed tonight, which means we should have the shipment in our hands and ready to send to you all by first week of September. Thanks to all of you for making this possible!
Matt and I continue writing new songs as I type and have 2-3 additional new ones that are close to being finished. We should have 2 more out to you listeners next Friday! The songs we’ve been doing lately have had me working the drum kit like never before, and the tone is pretty full on rock.
As for these newest tunes..Hold is a Cluthe composition that was sent to me back in late June but had existed for much longer. At the time I’d started listening to some of Matt’s solo songs and asked if we could work up Hold. He obliged and before long I was making a bunch of noise on the drum kit trying to find a suitable beat. Looking back at my files, it looks like I tried 20 takes to get the drums consistent! Whew! I had some sore arms that’s for sure. Matt’s vocals are beautiful and aggressive. I’m convinced his Strat got a work out in the process as you can hear his playing matching the vocal delivery. I am a bit of a lyrics guy, and what I love most about Hold are just that. You can find yourself in there somewhere…at least I do in nearly every song he’s written.
Can’t Retrace is something I recorded on July 1. It was a spur of the moment recording while I was playing around with microphone placement. The main part just came from nowhere and after I was done I liked the tone I’d captured, I went ahead and did a pretty crazy acoustic lead (something new). I sent it to Matt and he was intensely drawn to it. While he was digesting it I developed a nasty case of “self-criticism” and went back to Matt saying I didn’t really think the demo was good enough to do anything with. He told me I was nuts and to let him get his vocal/lyrical ideas down and that I’d change my mind. Well….he was right. I love the line “nothing wrong, right, inbetween…” makes me think about what Matt and I do together musically. How we approach our own ideas and how we support one another through these kinds of moments.
HOLD
Cluthe: Words/Vocals/Music, Rhythm Guitar, Bass
Lee: Lead Guitar(s), Drum Kit
Can’t Retrace
Cluthe: Words/Vocals, Lead Electric Guitar
Lee: Music, Acoustic Guitars, Bass, Shaker, Drum Kit with brushes
HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYBODY!
Chris
Hi everyone–
We just wanted to remind you all that the pre-order for Here We Are ends tomorrow at 11:59 PM Central Time. We may have a few copies left after the pre-order, but the only way to guarantee that you’ll receive a copy is to order it before the deadline.
For those that have already ordered the cd and/or downloaded it from iTunes, cdBaby or Amazon, THANK YOU!!!
This whole process has been such a trip for us and we’re beyond grateful for all of love & support that we’ve received from you all. If you have any questions/problems with your order, just send us an email.
Thanks again & stay tuned for a music update next week including 2 new songs!
Happy Sunday,
Matt