City of Legends

An old fan asked why I had chosen the twenty seven tracks I currently have posted to the Listening Room at williamfdevault.com.

The simple truth is, they’re the ones I have gotten to so far. But, not wanting to let me squirm out of the corner, she asked what my opinion was of the pieces I have placed. That’s tougher, but it is a good deconstructive and self-critical exercise, so I will make a brief comment on each of the tracks, and that will be the end of it.

from out of the city: Nice, brief, to the point. Engineered to have an alien, distant radio engineered sound quality. I find it interesting.

Eros V: Romantic, erotic, tender. I always listen for The Selke’s vocalized backgrounds. It’s decent, pretty solid.

Kisses for Karma: Maybe I went too far with this piece, over-producing it (okay, the horns and harmonicas…). But it has a nice energy to it.

Bragi to Freya, on his deathbed: I like this. Yes, you can challenge the tribal drums on a piece about Norse deities. So?

Wordslinger: Almost twenty minutes of building energy. One of my favourite projects.

Beasts of Legend: If you stick it through, you’ll find I included "glass roses" on the end. A very articulate endeavor, employing many of my more soulfully romantic works.

glass roses: The simple, direct faith in romance.

The Gods of Love, Live at Kyrienar: Stan Freberg would be proud. And the music and performance are solid.

Damascus 3: Quick, direct, to the point and accelerating. I would have liked to do more with my voice, but I played it safe.

NQ: Also known as "the Nosferatu’s Quandry". A little bit of the dance devil got in there and we have some funk. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it came out.

Right Set of Lips: Very well received. Sweetly romantic, to the point and the music does not drown out the vocals. I like the earnest appeal.

Falling and Fallen Angels: Ambitious, maybe too ambitious, musically. I give it points for stretching, though.

Brisant Revelations: A nice bit of chaotic rock there. Too rough to be a complete success, but it has a swagger and my vocals are something I’d not imagined. I blame the drums.

Joining the Machine: Grim but perhaps a bit over-produced. Apocalyptically over the top?

Texture of Your Tongue: Not sure how I feel about this one. It has some nice experimentation to it, though.

Strange but Beautiful: I like the simplicity of the partnership between my voice and the piano in this romantic ode with a twist.

Thunder Out of Valhalla: The poem "We Owe Debt to Memory" was put in the music grinder and came out as a bit of jazz-tempered rock strutting. I am ambivalent…in the accurate use of the word.

Love Gods (Multivox): My favourite sonic experiment to date. Yes, all six voices are me I still have the original tracks.

Darfur (Jesus Wept): I have been very humbled by the response to this piece about the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan. We even got some pick up overseas for radio airplay. Booyah!

A Passion, Unrelenting: Banjos? Did someone call for banjos? Actually, I started out with mandolins, but this evolved into a bluegrass-flavoured melange that owes a lot to the West Virginia band The Weedhawks.

The Taste: This poem and recording probably wraps closer around my soul than anything else I have ever done. I love it, unabashedly. Special, special thanks to the great Alan MacDonald for his tutelage in music theory.

Centaur: The glide of this well-oiled synthesizer romp, a romantic flirt of a wisp of a thought on the way down the road.

32fps2: Can you tell we had fun laying this one down? We did. A little raw, but everything comes together. Just stick around,t he vocals don’t cut in until the 2 and a half minute mark.

Evangelist: The vocals are off-key and strained as I struggled to find myself and my soul. I literally bled during the sessions for this CD. Perhaps too intimate for some. There is art and beauty in the truth.

Love is an Howling Beast: We played a bit to keep this from turning into self-mocking parody of the integrity of the words. Painful for me to listen to, as it chronicles the failure of my second marriage. Startlingly archival instrumentation

They’re Shooting Monks in Burma: Another protest song poem, this one about Myanmar massacres. A bit naked and folksy for me, but it gets the job done.

The Panther on the Beach: An early reading, very well articulated. I am proud of the villanelle and glad I could express it so well.

So there you have it, there it is. I’d suggest you haul it over to the Listening Room at williamfdevault.com and at least check out a few tracks.