Hi friends and family out there on the interwebs!
It’s been well over a year since Matt and I first started writing/recording together. In that time we’ve amassed quite a collection of songs that all have some early version or another. Many of these early versions have never been heard by anyone but us. We thought it was high time we shared some and so I raided my iTunes library and sifted through 17.4 hours of music to bring you 12 alternate/unreleased/demo/instrumentals. Some you know, some you don’t and some you might have heard at the grocery store last weekend? Go on over to www.reverbnation.com/presentlyfalling and you’ll find the songs listed from 1-12 at the top of the song list.
Here We Are (alternate mix)
This one has a different sounding lead guitar to it and Matt’s vocals are a bit more immediate. It sounds pretty close to how it sounded when we played it live together in Austin in October.
Fade (unreleased song 2009)
Matt wrote this one and I think we just forgot about it. It’s a very aggressive sounding song. The very ending has Matt singing without any accompaniment. We had planned on just having bass playing and Matt singing, but like I said, forgot all about this little beauty! Maybe someday it will resurface and be worked on?
Count Down (alternate early version)
I remember when I first started working on this one and had added a bunch of guitar. Too much in fact. The LP version is very different than this one. Matt’s main acoustic track is much more present in this. The guitar solo is also quite different (I can tell at least). Of the 12 put out today, I like this the best. It almost doesn’t sound like the song I know too well.
On A Wire (instrumental demo)
When I heard this today I had no idea what it was! It took me a minute or so to realise that this was the first version of On A Wire we did, sans vocals/words. Drumming is different, guitars are different. Almost a completely different song here. I really like this version, but LOVE the finished product much more!
Predicament (slow alternate version)
Matt and I think I may have posted a similar version back awhile ago? This was the one of the very first songs I heard on Matt’s MySpace page back in 2008 when I’d first heard of him. This one sounds way different to me. It’s a first take from me and I hit a lot of bad notes/chords, including a really really bad guitar solo (sorry guys!).
Blitzkrieg Easter Song (unreleased instrumental)
I had waaaaaay too much fun jacking up the BPM’s on the drum loop. It’s never been worked on because it’s way too fast and has a really bad working title. Hahahaaa!! Written on Easter 2010, and inspired by fluffy white easter bunnies….with mohawks!
Setting Sun (early alternate version)
2nd song Matt and I recorded together last August 2009. This is the original acoustic guitar track from the day I wrote the music. Matt’s vocals are stripped back and a bit more raw. Still sounding powerful and amazing as usual though! Back when we were still figuring out how to record all these songs, this was one Matt sung from another room in his house into his Mac’s speakers. Has a pretty abrupt, strange ending that shows just how young the song was then. I think this is another one that sounds close to what it sounded like when we played it together live.
Song For A Toadie (unreleased instrumental)
Do I love marching style drum beats? Yep. Ha!! This is a little something I wrote during a cold snowy day last winter if I remember right. After writing it and sending it to Matt and told him it sounded way too much like that really famous Toadies song from the mid-90s. He agreed and so it never went anywhere. Coming back to it today I still am not sure about. Fun to hear and play that main riff-age though! Yeeeah!!
Drift On (alternate guitar heavy version)
One of Matt’s beautiful piano ballads. One of my favorite songs he’s ever done truthfully. He worked his ass off recording that live piano. The piano is very very special to Matt, Laurel and their families. Matt was so motivated and inspired to get the piano into our music and I’m so glad we went decided in the end to limit the guitars on this song. There’s just too much there. Certainly an interesting take to here compared to the finished take.
Untitled April Jam (unreleased instrumental)
Matt wrote this and I honestly don’t know why we didn’t keep working on it. Sure was fun to jam on though. Just the two of us rocking out.
Rest Is Futile (unreleased instrumental)
Matt wrote this one around the same time as Untitled April Jam. He had fits on this one, though I can’t remember over what. I think it might have been over getting a fitting drum loop going? I asked him if I could try my hand at recording the song and this is what I did. It wasn’t quite what he was after and so we abandoned it. Another aggressive sounding song for us. The ending cracks me up with the shaker and tambourine. It’s all aggressive and then we hop in the Lincoln Continental to funky town. Hahaaa!! Am I having too much fun with this today? Yep 🙂
New Year’s Day Song (unreleased instrumental)
A very very old song I wrote back in 2001 living in Philadelphia. I was happy to be there with my girlfriend, but distressed over too many other things. I wrote it the day I found out that I had been accepted into graduate school. The sounds here reflects the frantic worry and sweet relief that followed. After Matt and I had gotten everything together for “Here We Are” we started gathering up older songs we each had written but hadn’t brought to the collaboration yet. This one suffered from demo-itis and got shelved because I wasn’t happy with how it turned out. Doesn’t sound all that bad now that I’m hearing it 😉
