NEW 'MAS DIRT' EP
A NEW SET OF 4-SONGS, THE ‘MAS DIRT EP’, OUT NOW ON ALL STREAMING AND DOWNLOAD SERVICES.
I’ve released 4 ‘new’ songs this week to celebrate the anniversary of ‘Fürst In The Dirt’, which landed on glorious pink vinyl just over 7 years ago. We’re a few weeks late but I’m glad to finally be able to share them with you!
“THESE FOUR SONGS, RELUCTANTLY LEFT OFF OF ‘FÜRST IN THE DIRT’ LP, ARE A RAGGED FAMILIAL BUNCH. THEY ARE KIN, SIBLINGS, COLLABORATORS, WITH THE THREAD OF A DNA THAT BINDS THEM, EVEN WHEN ON THE VERGE OF FALLING APART. A boxer’s right-jab groove, a left turn into a field, a sudden reversal into a side alley confessional, and a scream of restless wonder.
It seems fitting that, on the 7th anniversary of the release of ‘Fürst...”, these neglected little moments finally see the light of day.
I’M GLAD THAT I FINALLY GET TO SHARE THEM WITH YOU.”
THE SONGS
‘Willing To Break’, a re-imagining of the never-recorded Wirepony tune which my son Aaron had helped me finish was a surprise. The rocket like lift off of Adam Landry’s guitar attack and the Rob Crowell’s drum groove under my guitar gave the lyric a new context, but ultimately Aaron himself was the one to finally convince me it didn't fit on ‘Fürst…’.
I had made the hard decision to leave 'Lucifer In My Heart', off at the very last minute, a song I’d been carrying around for a year or so in various forms. I had flown my old Truckee Brothers compatriot Matt Lynott to Nashville for a few days and this is one of the tunes that he played on, his drums on this track perhaps his most beautifully restrained performance on record. I just remember leaning into the vocal mic with my wife’s little travel guitar bleeding into the mic and singing along to Adam Landry's sublime slide work and that side stick beat, until Justin Collins, the heart and soul of the production, shouted from the control that this was a take.
I felt especially guilty at not having included 'Drink' on the album. Rob Crowell, now perhaps most famous for his drumming for the band Midland, had delivered the stunning and emotionally layered string arrangement, deftly conducting the string section we had gathered at Playground studio while I sat watching from the floor. It is still one of my greatest recording memories.
Some might consider the ragged impromptu bombast of 'Still Arriving', inspired by the words of the rock writer, philosopher and friend Paul Williams, as unfinished. Because it was. It was off the cuff on the floor but has always has hung here in my head, like a specter. The album already had some great rapid fire attack tunes in ‘Falter’ and ‘Kissing The Beast’ so we didn’t take the song any further. But I always felt that the cast off lyric said more in that moment than I've perhaps managed to say in a lifetime of writing songs. So here it is finally.
And it’s all capped off with cover art again done by my old friend P Jay Fidler, this time using the “sister” piece that he painted as an alternate option for the original album cover.
And now they are yours, these four melodic travelers, to take and make your own. Four songs that were made with great friends while inhabiting our own little world. I thank you for joining us in it.
- Patrick (June 2022)
Engineered & Produced by Cosmic Thug. Adam Landry & Justin Collins @ Playground Sound, Nashville, TN with Patrick Dennis, Adam Landry, Rob Crowell, Justin Collins, Rob Crowell & Cindy Wasserman, Zach Casebolt, Larissa Maestro, Emily Kohavi & Eleonore Denig.