Here Stones Arise. One of the recurring melodies heard in this song stems from my earliest attempts to learn to play the piano. The idea was as simple then as it is now, but almost every other element heard here was born out of the hours spent improvising over that one rudimentary arpeggio. It was a sort of exercise in restraint and I’m quite pleased with what came of it. The music ultimately strayed from my initial intent to map the stages of grief, but I think that target proved an effective point of departure for a more focused meditation on loss and heartache.
Here Stones Arise. One of the recurring melodies heard in this song stems from my earliest attempts to learn to play the piano. The idea was as simple then as it is now, but almost every other element heard here was born out of the hours spent improvising over that one rudimentary arpeggio. It was a sort of exercise in restraint and I’m quite pleased with what came of it. The music ultimately strayed from my initial intent to map the stages of grief, but I think that target proved an effective point of departure for a more focused meditation on loss and heartache.
A welling up of bitter loss, wild
Pall bearer gloves on my knee
I linger in the din of sullen assurance and hope
Marking my love’s remains, here stones arise
I only knew but one, and here she lies
Low in my chest, my heart laments
For those who’ll never know
Her vital mind, bright
Now, I could say anything
Praise with tongue or pen
Yet never eclipse the thoughts
Of all that could have been
‘Neath heaven black and blinking stars
I wait once more for the one
I see in sunlight and hear in the rain
And chase in the unchained wind
If I soon follow across that vale
Know that I found peace
Carve no stone, leave my bones
Beside the seizeful sea
BN – acoustic/electric guitars, piano, bass, percussion
Pall bearer gloves on my knee
I linger in the din of sullen assurance and hope
Marking my love’s remains, here stones arise
I only knew but one, and here she lies
Low in my chest, my heart laments
For those who’ll never know
Her vital mind, bright
Now, I could say anything
Praise with tongue or pen
Yet never eclipse the thoughts
Of all that could have been
‘Neath heaven black and blinking stars
I wait once more for the one
I see in sunlight and hear in the rain
And chase in the unchained wind
If I soon follow across that vale
Know that I found peace
Carve no stone, leave my bones
Beside the seizeful sea
BN – acoustic/electric guitars, piano, bass, percussion
A Theme for Rhys. This short instrumental came about following a suggestion that I write a lullaby for my son, who was due to be born in January 2018. At the time, I was inspired by the way labelmates Rota Fortunae and Meus were approaching songwriting and I wanted to try my hand at creating something in the spirit of that style. The result I think is decidedly simpler, sunnier and less developed; however, I envision eventually reinterpreting and evolving the melodies presented here within the context of a more complete song, perhaps to symbolize the coming of age or the effects of adversity on youth. So, this piece serves as an introduction in more ways than one.
BN – guitars, electric bass
When the Rains Came. A loop pedal was an essential tool in the making of this instrumental, which came together over the course of five, separate demo recordings. Using a highly simplified chord progression as a foundation, I’d hoped to convey the imagery of a cloudburst by assigning instruments to specific roles in the “storm” (raindrops, wind, thunder, etc.) and heaping them on top of one another until the desired effect was achieved. A couple past permutations of this track feature sparser arrangements. The remainders are more maximalist in nature. In my opinion, this final configuration strikes the healthiest balance.
BN – acoustic/electric guitars, piano, bass, percussion, flute
Chasing the Sound. The bones of this song are actually quite old. Some snippets date back to approximately 2008. So, it's really no wonder that, of all the songs on the second EP, this one feels most aligned with my original vision for this project. Vivid storytelling being the primary aim, I wanted the music to animate and react to the lyrics rather than simply accompany them. I like the inherent surprise and uncertainty of unconventional song structures, and here I wanted the shifts in mood and time to represent the spectrum of feelings that spring from wandering into and becoming lost in the woods.
Linden groves, lemon leaves
Diverging paths into the hills
Sun climbs through the weeping boughs
Ambling, I pause bewitched
I chase the sound far
Between the recesses of the trees
The pursuit lasts through the night
Hours turning into days
Sorrowful winds sweep
Through the lonely woods
Painting its halls with falling snow
My forlorn voice
Rings out from the depths
Calling the moon
My uncaring friend
BN – acoustic/electric guitars, piano, bass, percussion, mouth harp, flute
Diverging paths into the hills
Sun climbs through the weeping boughs
Ambling, I pause bewitched
I chase the sound far
Between the recesses of the trees
The pursuit lasts through the night
Hours turning into days
Sorrowful winds sweep
Through the lonely woods
Painting its halls with falling snow
My forlorn voice
Rings out from the depths
Calling the moon
My uncaring friend
BN – acoustic/electric guitars, piano, bass, percussion, mouth harp, flute
Seeds, Sand. My attempts to write stripped-down, guy-and-his-guitar-type songs never seem to fully pan out. I came close with the verse and chorus sections here but experimenting with the bridge yielded several ideas that seemed too strong to leave out. Slide guitar is an element I’ve never used before and I am particularly glad it survived the demo stage.
Baring my voice to this degree and having a go at a proper guitar solo were the two most challenging aspects of putting this song together. Including either of those mechanisms in a song wouldn't be playing to my strengths. Including both might be a misstep!
Baring my voice to this degree and having a go at a proper guitar solo were the two most challenging aspects of putting this song together. Including either of those mechanisms in a song wouldn't be playing to my strengths. Including both might be a misstep!
Arrayed in boundless night, they brim with inner fire
Wheel and glide in gentle gyre
Seeds, they are as thoughts, landing now ‘fore wafting on
All to rest, some soon, some not
Or are they memories adrift on turbid sea
Darting here and there like sparrows in the eaves
Dawn in hazy veil, ghostly pall o’er windswept shores
Stokes color to life once more
Silt, earth’s border frail, eroding grain by grain
To a tune, the tide’s refrain
Each could be a dream, or a hope hand-cast by time
Swallowed by the wolfish brine
Losing ground and wearing thin, around, within
Seeds or shifting sand, the musings of a man
In sum could whelm this bay, but can any endure unswayed?
BN – acoustic/electric guitars, piano, bass, percussion
Wheel and glide in gentle gyre
Seeds, they are as thoughts, landing now ‘fore wafting on
All to rest, some soon, some not
Or are they memories adrift on turbid sea
Darting here and there like sparrows in the eaves
Dawn in hazy veil, ghostly pall o’er windswept shores
Stokes color to life once more
Silt, earth’s border frail, eroding grain by grain
To a tune, the tide’s refrain
Each could be a dream, or a hope hand-cast by time
Swallowed by the wolfish brine
Losing ground and wearing thin, around, within
Seeds or shifting sand, the musings of a man
In sum could whelm this bay, but can any endure unswayed?
BN – acoustic/electric guitars, piano, bass, percussion
Wolf Psalm. The core ideas for this conceptual song trace back to 2011. I cobbled together the arrangement and storyline in my head during the weeks I spent hiking among the spire-like peaks and vast plateaus texturing the Colorado Trail. Approximately halfway through the trip, I became ill and ultimately abandoned the 500-mile expedition to recuperate at home. As soon as I was able, I set to work on laying the foundation for the track that would go on to be called “Wolf Psalm". Mountain air, the fiction I was reading at the time, and the instrumental simplicity of neofolk music all could be considered influential components of this tale detailing the exploits of a hunting party seeking vengeance in the dead of night.
‘Tis by mere lantern light in the late hours our path is found
What a lonely vigil do we endure to lure out the grey ones woods conceal
Glass torches fan and the yellow wreath spreads amid the countless trees
Their eyes glint in the grey timbers
From their mouths drips stolen children’s blood
We came to avenge them, our heirs buried ‘neath the soil
Their howls, taunts in our ears, they brandish their teeth as we do our spears
BN - acoustic/electric guitars, electric bass, piano, Native American flute, frame drum
Heritage. Undoubtedly the oldest song on the Old Yarns EP, the first riffs and melodies for “Heritage” were composed in the spring of 2006, not long after the members of my high school-era “heavy metal” band went their separate ways. I credit David Baldwin, who played bass for that band, with originally introducing the concept of music outlining the journey of our grandfather and great grandfathers from their respective homelands to the United States. Some of his original lyrics are still present here. The rest of the music came together as I thrummed on an old banjo and autoharp bequeathed to me by my late grandfather with the hope of capturing the thrills and perils of sea travel as well as the melancholia and nostalgia born of leaving one’s home.
Heritage. Undoubtedly the oldest song on the Old Yarns EP, the first riffs and melodies for “Heritage” were composed in the spring of 2006, not long after the members of my high school-era “heavy metal” band went their separate ways. I credit David Baldwin, who played bass for that band, with originally introducing the concept of music outlining the journey of our grandfather and great grandfathers from their respective homelands to the United States. Some of his original lyrics are still present here. The rest of the music came together as I thrummed on an old banjo and autoharp bequeathed to me by my late grandfather with the hope of capturing the thrills and perils of sea travel as well as the melancholia and nostalgia born of leaving one’s home.
Ebb and flow into the blue, invoking the ocean’s ire
Far from home I mean to sail and start my story anew
Emboldened by the gentle waves, fluid rhythms carry me
My old land’s coast calls me home, but with this story wrought within
I yearn for the tempest sweet
The sun set over the western sea
Land unknown as night before me
I left my father’s land, taking forth his name
Heaven remember my mother. I will miss her so.
Thunder shakes the masts
Waves wash o’er the crags
New World's light ahead
For me the price of freedom is my all.
BN - acoustic/electric guitars, banjo, piano, Native American flute, cymbals
Far from home I mean to sail and start my story anew
Emboldened by the gentle waves, fluid rhythms carry me
My old land’s coast calls me home, but with this story wrought within
I yearn for the tempest sweet
The sun set over the western sea
Land unknown as night before me
I left my father’s land, taking forth his name
Heaven remember my mother. I will miss her so.
Thunder shakes the masts
Waves wash o’er the crags
New World's light ahead
For me the price of freedom is my all.
BN - acoustic/electric guitars, banjo, piano, Native American flute, cymbals
From Hovel to Hilltop. I cannot fully recall when or from where the original ideas for this knotty, little short story first arose. I do, however, have the distinct memory of reclining beneath a canopy of autumn-kissed cottonwoods behind my parent’s house trying to flesh out and organize the various riffs and melodic directions. The goal here is to encapsulate the sights, thoughts, and feelings someone might experience while ambling through the Rocky Mountains in the fall. It’s something of a soundtrack, an original, albeit abbreviated score to an extended hiking trip. I like to picture the little melody presented by a solo guitar at the beginning of the song and fleshed out in the coda as being the theme for a scenic vista, appearing first as a memory in the walker’s mind and manifesting in full when he crests the hill in front of him.
From Hovel to Hilltop. I cannot fully recall when or from where the original ideas for this knotty, little short story first arose. I do, however, have the distinct memory of reclining beneath a canopy of autumn-kissed cottonwoods behind my parent’s house trying to flesh out and organize the various riffs and melodic directions. The goal here is to encapsulate the sights, thoughts, and feelings someone might experience while ambling through the Rocky Mountains in the fall. It’s something of a soundtrack, an original, albeit abbreviated score to an extended hiking trip. I like to picture the little melody presented by a solo guitar at the beginning of the song and fleshed out in the coda as being the theme for a scenic vista, appearing first as a memory in the walker’s mind and manifesting in full when he crests the hill in front of him.
BN - acoustic/electric guitars, thunder drum
Deeper Skies. The youngest of all the Old Yarns songs, this two-parter most closely represents my current state of mind when it comes to music. Its entirety was composed during the 3 years I spent living and working in a small, rural western Nebraska town. The vastness of the countryside lent itself to unobstructed sunsets and stargazing and I occupied much of my time in this way. It was during this time that I would live far from home for the first time. It was here that I would also meet Kristen. Change had become a constant and it encouraged me to mature in many respects. I found myself contemplating bigger questions and looking further into the systems of thought that serve to guide me forward.
Deeper Skies. The youngest of all the Old Yarns songs, this two-parter most closely represents my current state of mind when it comes to music. Its entirety was composed during the 3 years I spent living and working in a small, rural western Nebraska town. The vastness of the countryside lent itself to unobstructed sunsets and stargazing and I occupied much of my time in this way. It was during this time that I would live far from home for the first time. It was here that I would also meet Kristen. Change had become a constant and it encouraged me to mature in many respects. I found myself contemplating bigger questions and looking further into the systems of thought that serve to guide me forward.
Ensconced in mist on yonder hill
See the watcher lingering ‘ere
Tracing shapes swirling past his grasp
With a compass of untold light
Radiant, dark expanse, cradle of the spheres
Where light rays dance unconfined
Alone, is he seeking guidance in the void?
Does he listen for some celestial voice?
Hearing nothing, he is obliged to wait
Forge his understanding, exorcise doubt,
And see through the clouds
What will he find probing deeper skies?
What’s to be gained transcending simple mind?
BN – acoustic/electric guitars, piano
See the watcher lingering ‘ere
Tracing shapes swirling past his grasp
With a compass of untold light
Radiant, dark expanse, cradle of the spheres
Where light rays dance unconfined
Alone, is he seeking guidance in the void?
Does he listen for some celestial voice?
Hearing nothing, he is obliged to wait
Forge his understanding, exorcise doubt,
And see through the clouds
What will he find probing deeper skies?
What’s to be gained transcending simple mind?
BN – acoustic/electric guitars, piano
Radiant, Dark. My aim with this naïve piano number was to set the stage for the theme and feel of “Deeper Skies”. This track is a prime example of a musical idea that I hear clearly, but struggle to capture in practice. The version appearing on Old Yarns is the closest I have come to realizing my vision for this little instrumental, embodying in music the dichotomous nature of space. An interesting aside, the melodies explored extemporaneously here on piano are ideas lifted from the cutting room floor of the “Deeper Skies” writing period. That is how I came to view this as a companion piece to that song. If I ever have the opportunity, it is a track that I would like to revisit and explore more thoroughly.
BN – piano, electric guitars, synthesizer