Ice Cream (Acoustic)

Ice Cream (Acoustic) came pouring out (slowly, like a Kohr Bros. custard) one evening when I found myself sat in front of the TV, heaping spoonfuls of mint chocolate chip into my mouth, watching reruns of some now forgotten show. I was feeling like shit, so I narrated exactly what I was doing, and found a melody that was cool enough to me to make me want to capture it to voice memos. It was simple but sweet. I thought about the things I do when feeling like crap - all the comparisons and distraction tactics that exacerbate those comparisons. I thought about flipping the role, and wouldn’t that be a great way to feel less like crap. Maybe. All of this, it is clear, is a continued spiral of thought with no promise of making me feel less like crap. And by the time I become aware of that, I’m typically done the pint of Häagen-Dazs.

On rare occasions, I get fed up with the cycle. I feel angry and I want nothing to do with it. The moment is nice but the consequence is ass and I’m the only person who has a say in the decisions. Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is nothing at all. I find it very difficult to not do something when I feel shitty.

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Technical notes: I’m pretty sure this song has the most tracks of all the songs on the record (‘Songs For Dogs’). Accordingly, it was the most interesting for me to mix. Josh Turner, who mastered the record, gave some mix notes that were so helpful in creating a bit of space amongst the many layers and not losing the momentum built before the song finally ends. I note this because it was a nice reminder that DIY, self-produced songs can really benefit from an outside ear. And I suspect that benefit compounds by an unspecified factor for each additional track you add to the song.

This record is my first attempt at recording vocals myself. A lot of the live takes on the record, as well as the softer sung vocals, were more manageable than I thought they would be. But for the end vocal on Ice Cream, I go at it pretty hard. My room is very small and recording loud vocals just doesn’t work well. So, I recorded the vocal part at a crappy rehearsal space with the mic about 10 feet away from me. I kept the lights off, lit a candle, and at the end of rehearsal just let myself have it until I couldn’t sing anymore. It felt awesome. And I’m really happy with how the vocal take came out in the end. Sharing this in case any home recordists find vocals hard to capture, or they are bashful about singing loud when neighbors/etc. might overhear. My recommendation: go find a big, shitty room with nobody around and let yourself have it out.

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MV notes: The ice cream is Breyer’s Vanilla Bean and the television show is The OC, Season 1 (the episode after the Chrismukkah one, I think).