Track 1 - WORDS

- THE SONG BLOG -
What comes first, the words or the music? A common question for songwriters. In my case, the majority of times it's the music taking the lead. With this song of course it had to be the "Words" and they came via my talented friend Alec Steinwall who sent me the lyric. It really resonated with me and I was immediately inspired. In fact, I wrote the music and sent him a demo recording within 24 hrs - I wish this happened more often! The song is dense with words and in a way, speaks to how crowded our lives can be with so much talking everywhere you turn. Oops, I guess I should shut up now : ) 

- THE RECORDING - LISTEN HERE
When tracking a song live off the floor with a group of musicians, sometimes the way you heard it in your head doesn't always materialize in the studio. This was the case with Words. As we listened back in the control room, producer Justin Abedin said, "let's try something completely different." He told our drummer Mark Mariash to do his "Mariash thing" and grab some stuff from the kitchen for improvised percussion. He came back with a metal dog bowl and dropped his keys in it and started shaking it and grabbed a string of beads and moved them across the drum skin. Drew Birston used a POG effect pedal to add higher and lower octaves on his bass and Todd Lumley looked into his bag of tricks and pulled out a melodica. The band kicked into the song and we were merrily marching down a musical road with a totally different view and I loved it. Thanks to producer Justin Abedin for boldly changing course during the crunch and to the cool cat musicians for being open to letting the song travel where it needed to go.

Recorded at Canterbury Sound in Toronto. Engineered by Jeremy Darby. Overdubs at Jeddart Music in Mississauga. Mixed by Chad Carlson at Hippo Sound in Nashville and Mastered by Hank Williams. Produced by Justin Abedin & David Leask. Vocals & acoustic guitar- David Leask. Electric guitars - Justin Abedin. Drums & percussion - Mark Mariash. Electric and bowed upright bass - Drew Birston. Piano & melodica - Todd Lumley.

One of the fun things to do after the track is recorded is to go back and hear it in it's original form.  Here's video of the pre-production demo sent to the band before we went into the studio.

- THE LYRIC -
Words, words, can't get past the words
Phrases like forests, mazes of meanings  
Masks for our faces, pillows for dreaming
    
Words, words so crowded with words
Stuffed into spaces erasing the wonder
Weeds in the garden choking us under
    
We keep building bridges across dangerous rivers  
With words that keep bending and breaking in two  
Stuck on our islands all huddled and frightened  
Lonely and trying to be heard
Screaming out nothing but words
 
Words, Words carnival words  
Nuanced and plastic, frowning and grinning  
Multiple facets, weather vanes spinning
    
Words, words, spirograph words
Campfires dancing, northern lights weaving  
Kaleidoscopes tumbling, ocean waves breathing

We keep building bridges across dangerous rivers  
With words that keep bending and breaking in two  
Stuck on our islands all huddled and frightened  
Lonely and trying to be heard
Screaming out nothing but words

Words© 2007 David Leask/Songs In The Air & Alec Steinwall

COMING UP NEXT WEEK
A preview of the title track, some cool video from the album cover photo shoot and CD pre-sale details including how you can have the songs delivered to your inbox every week.

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