Take Flight

Hi everyone….

(Matt) This song has been done for a few weeks, but life has been a little hectic lately….so it took me awhile to finally have the time to mix it. It’s called “Take Flight” & it’s one that has really had me thinking lately about all of the upcoming changes in my life. My wife & I are leaving Texas for cooler climates later this month. It’s a move we’ve been daydreaming about for years & are excited that it has become a reality. It seems appropriate to post this today, on our anniversary…as we prepare to leave on our big adventure.

It came together really fast. We were up late one night packing & I started strumming the main chord progression & quickly wrote down the lyrics to the chorus as they came to me. I recorded it on my iPhone & called it a night. The version that you hear is the first take that I recorded the next day.

(Chris) Take Flight is what I would call a ‘classic Matt composition.’ Signature strumming pattern, acoustic slide guitar and gentle, flowing, introspective lyrics. I love adding textures to these songs – the additions come so naturally to me, a testament to how well we write music together in my opinion! I had just changed all the drum heads on the kit when this one came to me via e-mail. I love the punch of the new snare in this – and I think you all will notice that when you listen. Hope you enjoy this latest work by Matt and I….until the next one, thanks for listening!

Album Update for Where It Began

Update on our 3rd album, Where It Began

-Chris is meeting with our sound engineer today. Wil will start mastering the 4th song today!
-I talked to my sister, Maura yesterday. The artwork is coming along nicely & she expects to have some roughs prepared for us by mid-July. She’s designing 3 separate roughs & Chris & I will pick one for the album art.
-We will be including lyrics again for this release.
-We’re easily on schedule for a Fall release. We’ll be starting the pre-order shortly after the artwork is finalized. The pre-paid pre-order will be just like the first two albums. We’ve yet to determine the price, but it’ll be at or around the same price as our last album ($12).
-The album will also be available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc just like the previous albums.
-The website’s debut will coincide with the album release. For now, the address will re-direct you to our reverbnation page where you can hear a ton of our songs.
-You can follow us on twitter: @clutheleemusic or @mattcluthe & find us on Facebook here for the latest info: http://www.facebook.com/pages/ClutheLee-Music/167379719963329
-You can email us here (presentlyfalling@gmail.com) with any questions or to join our mailing list.
-One more thing….NEW SONGS (Take Flight/Open Heart Beating) will be posted soon!

Ok…I think that’s it! Have a great weekend!

Matt

Quick Update…

LP #3 is really taking shape…..

Hello all…just a quick album update for you.

-3 of the 13 album tracks have been mastered. track #4 will start soon.
-the tracklisting is set!
-we may have decided on an album title
-Maura has started the artwork/layout!

Lots going on these days! Plus, we have some new tunes in the works! We had a great time seeing Chris & his family yesterday! Really wish we lived closer to one another.

That’s it for now. Hope this finds you all well & thanks for your support!

Matt

Snapshot/First Light

Hi everyone…..


It feels good to finally post these songs so you can hear them. Chris & I have been a little busy lately & we really took our time to make sure that they sounded as good as possible. They’re both pretty & melodic, but not to worry….the songs that we’re working on now are loud, quirky & a lot of fun. Thanks again for your support during our mastering fundraiser! 3 songs have been mastered & we have 10 to go…..we’re so excited to release the album in the Fall! Here’s some brief info on our new songs & we hope this message finds you all well.


Matt & Chris


[SNAPSHOT]


(Cluthe) Big thanks to John (my father-in-law) for letting me borrow his mandolin! I’ve been wanting to learn the basics on the mandolin for awhile & this is the first full song that I wrote using the instrument. I kept working on it for about 2 weeks to make sure that it was nice & tight. Once it was where I wanted it to be, I recorded it. It’s always a treat when I can get my wife to sing on a song & Laurel’s vocals really add another layer to this song.

(Lee) The mandolin is a such a quiet little ‘hurricane’ of sound. Matt’s playing on it is amazing. Great harmonies between he and Laurel on this one. I played drums – which was fun to just have that one part to do. A total Matt composition through and through.

M. Cluthe (words/music): vocals, mandolin, bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Lee: drums
L. Cluthe: backing vocals


[FIRST LIGHT]
(Lee) Messing around with different tunings and a capo again on this one. The original demo was edgy and had electric guitar on it – but after hearing Matt had a mandolin we decided to keep it as mellow as possible. Matt plays lead on mandolin and sings on this one.

(Cluthe) Chris wrote the music for this one & it immediately grabbed me. It’s a loose song that could have gone in a million different directions, but Chris trusted me to try the mandolin on this track.

Cluthe (words): vocals, mandolin
Lee (music): guitar, drums, bass

Thank You!!!

Hey everyone…

Chris & I are constantly blown away by the love, support & encouragement that we’ve received since we started writing & recording music together 3 years ago, and today is no different.

Thanks to your donations & support, we have reached our goal & our 3rd album (still untitled) is now ready to be mastered! Two songs have already been mastered by our sound engineer, Will Reeves and they sound fantastic. We now have the funds to have the 11 remaining songs mastered thanks to you. These songs will be mastered over the next few months while Maura works on the artwork to prepare for a Fall release! (More details on that in the coming months)

We’re still plugging away & working on new songs & should have 2 new ones (Snapshot/First Light) up in the next week for you all to listen to.

Thank you all for supporting independent music. Our collaboration/band started in the most honest & organic way and we’re having a blast. We realize that this wouldn’t all be possible without your love and support….so, THANK YOU!!! It means a lot to both of us & we can’t wait to share the album with you!

Cheers,

Matt

Happy Record Store Day from Cluthe/Lee!!

Happy Record Store Day, everyone!!

Chris & I are both vinyl/music nerds, so it only made sense that we’d send you all a fun mp3 on RSD this year. The song we chose is an alternate version of the song “Predicament” that was featured on our first album, Here We Are. We re-recorded this song last year for a b-sides EP called Different Colors that we are still thinking about releasing digitally at some point. This alternate version sounds much different than the original, in my opinion. It features my wife, Laurel on co-lead vocals & I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

The fundraiser for the mastering of our third album is going really well! We’re halfway to our goal & we’d like to thank you all for your support!! Enjoy the song & we’ll see you soon!

Viva La Vinyl!!!

Matt

ps–If you aren’t on our mailing list & would like to be added, just send us an email! Our address is: presentlyfalling@gmail.com

FUNDRAISER GOING GREAT SO FAR!!

Hi everybody
Chris here – I am posting a quick video update/thank you for all the donations we’ve received so far! We’re just slightly over the half-way mark towards our goal. Thanks again to all who have contributed! We are truly grateful. If you would like to donate – instructions are in the post below.

Cluthe/Lee Announcement!

Dearest friends & family,

As you might have heard, Matt and I are preparing to put together songs for our third record since starting the band in 2009. For this record we are taking on the challenge of having the album “mastered” by a local sound engineer here in Columbia, MO. Mastering is a step in the recording process where the sound of the instruments are balanced, equalized, and enhanced so that the finished product will be both more musical and stand up next to professional CDs nicely. We recently paid to have one song of ours mastered and the results were flooring! Matt and I both feel that mastering this album will make it sound light years better than anything we’ve done to date.

The process of mastering and releasing an album is no easy feat. The costs can be upwards of several hundreds to thousands of dollars. This poses a problem for Matt & I since we are independent, unsigned, self-sustaining artists who don’t tour or sell merchandise. In plain terms, we don’t make money being in this band together. In the past we’ve put up money of our own just to get our last two records released. Unfortunately for Matt & I, the money isn’t there for mastering. Our fundraising goal is $600 & every cent helps!

Donating is simple. Simply visit www.paypal.com and send your donation as “gift” to presentlyfalling@gmail.com Be sure to leave your name and address. You will need a PayPal account to donate – setting one up is easy, but if you have trouble simply let us know via e-mail and we can assist. As a token of thanks for your donation we have the following rewards:

-Donations of $5 or less receives mp3’s of an album b-side and a live cut from our show in Dallas, Texas last year sent straight to your e-mail account.
-Donations of $15 or more receives an mp3 of an unreleased b-side from our previous two records and a DVD of our 2 hour live debut from Dallas, Texas last February 2011. The show features songs from both our albums Here We Are & Life Can Go.

Sharing this news with you all makes sense, since you all have been there from the very beginning of Cluthe/Lee. You all can play a direct part in helping us complete what we feel is our most exciting album to date! We are eternally grateful for all of your love and continued support the last 3 years! If you have any questions about the donation process, just send us an email.

Cheers,

Chris & Matt

The Ghost/Give Yourself Away

The Ghost
Cluthe: (Words/Music) Vocals, Rhythm/Lead Guitars, Bass
Lee – Drums, Lead Guitar
 
Give Yourself Away
Cluthe: (Words/Music) Vocals, Rhythm/Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals, Effects
Lee: (Music) Backing Vocals, Lead Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keyboards

[THE GHOST]

(Cluthe) This song was a blast. I’d written this song back in 2004 or 2005 & it sounded completely different. It was fingerpicked with a slide lead and the vocals were low and muted. I was going through some old lyric books one day and found it. I remembered how I’d played it originally, but I felt like playing a heavier song that day. So, I used the same chords & played around with the chorus a bit until the main riff stuck out. That was it. Chris is right…I have been taking my time with my songwriting lately & I can see & hear the changes in my approach in this song. Instead of just getting an idea & recording a “final” version, I’m taking my time with it to really sort it out so it makes more sense to me. It has helped me to improve my timing and vocal cadence as well. (At least I think so!) This song took me quite some time to mix. Life has been a little busy, but I’m also trying to get the best sound possible. I know that he worked really hard on the drums…and it shows. This song is one of my favorites that we’ve done to date & I hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed writing and recording it.

(Lee) In early February, Matt sent me an instrumental he was working on which would end up being The Ghost. I was drawn to it’s big sweeping chorus – which at that point had no vocals on it yet. Matt told me he was adopting a new approach to song writing – and really spending a lot of time developing his ideas out fully. By mid-February I had a complete working track complete with guitars, bass and vocals. Working on drums for this song was both exciting and an exercise in patience. I mirrored Matt’s new song writing and did my best to play the song and kit a lot before committing any takes to tape. I probably played for a day or two before I started recording takes. Matt got mp3’s along the way and was very encouraging. I think all said and done I count over 20 different takes to tape. The last 10 started really sounding similar – and that’s when I had found my place in the song. For the first time in any songs we’ve done – I ended up patching together some parts of the best takes into a “Frankenstein” type of track. The drums you hear on this song are that track; a blend of takes #9 and #11. I know I’ve said this before – but I really only follow my instincts and ears when I play the drums – I feel The Ghost represents some of the best drumming I’ve done to date. I love the lyrics and vocals on this song – some of the most moving and easily one of the best chorus’s I’ve heard in our songs.

[GIVE YOURSELF AWAY]
(Lee) I recorded a cover back in November 2011 and didn’t really like the way it turned out. I did however – really like how I set up the drum kit for the song though and sent Matt an MP3 of the drum track sometime in January 2012. He came back just a few days later with some guitar and the makings of what would become Give Yourself Away. It’s a pretty dark sounding song that spent quite a bit of time in the mixing process. I ended up changing the drum sound towards the end – but the intense “freak out” at the end of the song really forced me to keep the drums in their very original state. This is rare when I’m mixing – I do tend to tinker a lot with instrument sound and go back and forth on effects, compression, placement, etc,. Its been amazing to me how our ‘sound’ has grown since starting with little knowledge on the process of sound capture and mixing. When I go back and listen to some of the very early stuff we did together and then listen to this song – I’m blown away at how much more polished we sound. I can say that about us right?! Haha! Hope you all like this one! 
(Cluthe) This was an interesting song to write. Chris had the drum track down & sent it to me. All he said was “have fun & see what happens.” There are 2 other songs (much heavier, I might add) that I wrote using his drum track prior to settling on Give Yourself Away. This song was a demo that I had written and I never really thought it would see the light of day. When the other ideas didn’t quite fit, I started strumming the chords to Give Yourself Away. I had to completely change my approach for the rhythm guitar to make the chords fit and flow, but it worked. The chorus is also completely different from the original demo version. I love the drum track & it really shows just how far that Chris has come behind the kit.

Crooked Building/In My Time + News…

hey everyone…. matt here. just wanted to give you all an update on several things that we have going on. we’ve mentioned a few of these things here & there and i thought it would be good to condense the info and put it all on one place. 
[new songs] 
 “CROOKED BUILDING”
-music: Lee 
-words: Cluthe 
 (Lee) Written back on October 27 2011 on a very rainy, cold mid-fall day after ingesting a few hours of Neil Young and Crazy Horse records. Totally inspired by their Ragged Glory record. I had some crazy ideas for this song when I first wrote it – none of which would have been good now listening to what Matt did here! Matt’s leads on here are fantastic! His timing in the bridge especially! 
(Cluthe) Easily one of my favorite songs we’ve worked on in the last several months. It was shelved for a little bit because we had so many other songs brewing & because of the holidays. Chris told me that he had some ideas, but sent me the basic track & asked me to explore. So, I did! 
“IN MY TIME”
-words/music: Cluthe
 (Cluthe) I had the flu for about 1-2 weeks & couldn’t really talk without having a crazy coughing fit, so it gave me a lot of time to work on my songwriting with only the guitar. Once I started getting my voice back, I recorded this song in one take. I thought it was going to be a demo, but Chris liked the tone of it, so we kept it. And I’m glad that we did! 
(Lee) If memory serves, Matt recorded this when he had a cold? Or was just getting over one? Great acoustic driven number. Percussion and added guitar needed to be woven gently into the song. I initially added all this crazy delay/reverb drenched leads into the song to try playing off Matt’s great lead licks – but in the end took a very minimal approach (which I love).
[in-progress songs] 
first of all, i just wanted to mention that we’re working hard on the next batch of songs! we have a few that are in various stages of mixing/recording right now. on top of that, we’re each trying out several other new ideas. i’ve changed my songwriting approach a bit & have decided to really take my time with my writing so i can (try to) get the best out of each and every song. the new songs are really shaping up nicely….here’s a quick list of the ones that we’re working on now. 
-We Became (Cluthe-words; Lee-music) 
-They (Cluthe-words/music) 
-The Ghost (Cluthe-words/music) 
-Give Yourself Away (Cluthe-words/music; Lee-music) 
[new album & website] 
 we’re really excited about our third album (still untitled at the moment). we’re trying a different approach & have enlisted the help of a sound engineer (Wil) to master the album. this is a long process, but we have plenty of time before our tentative release timeframe of late summer/early fall. the mastering work has already begun & Chris will be there to listen in as it moves forward. the first song that we had mastered was “It Spins” and it sounds absolutely HUGE to our ears. Wil is doing a great job & we can’t wait to share all of these tracks once the album is released! 
we’re getting close to finalizing a tracklisting as well! we’re really excited to have maura back on board designing all of the original artwork for the album. our new website is being built by maura’s husband, jake. he also happens to be my brother in law & it’s really cool to have them both involved! we have plans to launch the new site so it coincides with the release of the 3rd album. stay tuned! 
[wishlist Austin pre-party] 
as you know, Chris & I played the PJ20 Wishlist pre-party last september & it was a blast! i was asked to play the Austin Wishlist pre-party last week by the organizers & i can’t wait! the set(s) will consist of all original songs with some PJ covers thrown in here and there. the party is on April 27, 2012 at The Local Pub & Patio in Austin. It starts at 2pm and I should have set times soon. It’s open to the public, so if you’re in Austin…please stop by! 
that’s it for now….hope this message finds you all well. 
 Matt 
[links] 
twitter: @clutheleemusic; @mattcluthe 
website: www.cluthelee.com