Bryan: This was recorded at dusk with the windows open and the Christmas lights on, my favorite work setting. "Electronic Rain" was done in one hour over the master tape of "Fall" which explains the strange coda at the end. This song has a nice, quiet motion which I really love about our early songs.
Brian: Good opener. A sombre gloom is seductively enjoyable.
Bill: Harrowing bridge and ending. A melancholy glimpses a more infinite horror.
Bryan: I remember this is as Bill's first great song. I first heard it in his van, in my driveway. The deep bells rattled the windows.
Brian: One of my favorite pieces. A comfortable insomnia that is mentally refreshing.
Bill: I recorded every track on this song with a Casio keyboard. It consists of four perfect parts, in true harmony. When I played it for everyone in my van, I was nervous, because I thought the bridge was a little over the top- but they loved it!
Bryan: Again, recorded in the late afternoon with the windows open (I don't believe the Chirstmas lights were on though). Everything was done in one take, in less than a half an hour. It took us longer to name it.
Brian: What ambient "sounds of nature" discs were meant to be.
Bill: An acoustic finger-picking guitar piece that I made up on the fly, as we were giving up on recording something more ambitious. Playing this song live at the Gateway is one of my most intense musical memories. Everyone enjoys a good A chord!
Bryan: I always think of this as our "Australian" epic. If I were a kangaroo, I would jump around to this. I haven't heard any better electronic drums than on this song and who knew Bill was so good at backwards, feedback guitar? This is the first song I ever had to mix twice. Very humbling. The title was taken from a few random words in a book about outer space we had laying around.
Brian: Excellent percussion and backwards guitar make the length of this piece more acceptable. I'm still learning to like this one.
Bill: This is beautiful as a solo piano piece. The strange african rhythms challenged me to write a more advanced keyboard piece than I was then capable of playing. Bryan's backwards remix is on the reverse side an unfinished song called "Moonbase Peace" sampled from a Justice League of America book on tape.
Bryan: This began as Bill's odd-rock song "A Chimney Sweep's Day Off." Later, he slowed it down and I threw in the respiratory machine. I originally wanted Bill to overdub three guitars lines, but he went home after recording just one. This is one of the great delayed guitar showcases.
Brian: Inspiring guitar work by Bill Lyon. One of the finest delayed slashing guitar sounds ever put to tape. Thoughtful and thematic playing.
Bill: Bryan just did the samples in one take- what fine work! When I wrote "A Chimney Sweep's Day Off," it had these three or four kicks; and being a lazy man, I always imagined if I bought a delay pedal it would do the kicks for me, without having to strum multiple times. Of course this didn't work out, but instead we got this pretty mellow song, no drummer required.
Bryan: Originally, I wanted to see if I could construct a pop song out of a conversation or a monologue. My mother, aunt, and father appear on this song along with an unknown foreigner who left a message on our machine. The keyboard solo here was an improvised first take and it's the best thing I've ever done.
Brian: Bryan Ward's greatest epic. A sonic masterpiece, created by elements which would hardly seem to constitute a song. The song has tremendous depth and wondrously dizzying keyboard work.
Bill: I remember laying on my floor listening to the finale. It made me get up. It almost saved my life.
Bryan: This song makes me very happy. It makes the record great.
Neither this woman, nor I knew that she would later appear on the "May" section of "Christmas All Year 'Round." She's practically a full-fledged band member.
Brian: A good and necessary follow-up to Last Thoughts, and the entire album for that matter. Melodic techno with superior morals.
Bill: Okay, I originally wrote this song on the guitar, but transfered it to piano. Which is when I realized what a great techno song it would make. At this time I had set up stereo speakers in my basement, in an attempt to make a fine sonic headphoneless recording studio (an ideal which would be later realized in "Skeleton Songs"). I recorded this song, quickly, as a demo for the speakers. I then added the samples, with only one track remaining. I wasn't thinking ahead.
Bryan: This song is the pinnacle of myself and William's early collaborations. It was almost good enough to base an entire opera on... This was usually our closing song when we played live. We recorded this on a a couple of different occasions. Finally we got sick of recording it so much, we did one final version in one final take. I wish we had a tape recorder running when Bill and I wrote it on guitar and a broken down organ one summer afternoon.
Brian: This is one of the first song I heard Bryan and Bill working on the night I first joined the band. It was shockingly good. It hit me in a powerful way, and opened the door for me to appreciate music on deeper levels. It cleared up all doubts I had of the legitamacy of their potential as a band.
Bill: After the initial organ jam, the song continually got more polished at the expense of its authenticity. The chorus I added to the final version restored some of what was lost.
Electronic Rain for Great Britain
A delayed guitar guides the listener on a gentle tour of Great Britain as electricity slowly rains down.
The Monk's Nightly Rounds
A solitary monk makes his customary rounds through a hall of bells.
Drowning With Birds
Birds sing as a summer afternoon dissolves into the perfect fire of a magical dusk.
Others Make An Occasional Landing
A psychedelic romp through the outback that culminates in an orphaned child's wish for a home.
The Alien's Respiratory Machine
A hospitalized alien lies awake in his room and succumbs to the sounds around him.
Last Thoughts On The Composer's Mind
In his final minutes, a composer thinks of his family, drugs, and biology. Finally, in his mind, he composes one last piece of music before a medical helicopter descends.
When Two People Can't Say "I Love You," Angels Help Them Kiss
A high velocity joyride through Victorian techno.
Building Perfect Rain
Scientists come one step closer to building perfect rain.
Synchronized Dreaming
Outtakes from Synchronized Dreaming
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