Once more on the recording/live topic. Here’s something by guitarist Aram Bajakian (he worked with Lou Reed and John Zorn) on SHADOW KINGDOM
Been listening to Shadow Kingdom all day. Streamed the video during covid lockdown and it was perplexing, like when I realized the musicians were not really playing, old school TV-broadcast style: musical instrument lip syncing. But the singing stuck with me. I wondered how he managed to lip sync so perfectly with the vocal track, due to the ever changing phrasing of his songs. Did he maybe record the vocals during the video session? But how’d they prevent bleed, given how dry and isolated the vocals are and his lack of headphones? Technicalities aside, the music stayed with me, and I loved that there was no way to listen to it after those few days of streaming. What I love about the record that was released yesterday is how simple it is, especially given how so much music is over produced today. Sounds like a bunch of great musicians in a room playing the songs with simple arrangements and playing them masterfully, like a band that’s been on the road on tour for a few years. I feel like I walked into a random bar in the middle of nowhere, and there’s a house band playing, but they’re the best band in the world, playing songs that people will be singing a few centuries from now. The singer may not belt it out like they used to, but you know they’ve seen some things and that you can learn something by listening to them tell their story, all conveyed with their voice. Give it a good listen.
