The Information Age (Part Two) Liner Notes
Since The Information Age is a digital release, there is no packaging to accompany it. When Part One came out in September 2020, my friend Ned mentioned that he wanted to read the liner notes. I spent some time writing about the extraordinary group of artists who contributed to the creation of the album. Click on the names to read all about Jonathan, Andrew, Daniel, Tayloranne, Katie, and Solomon. I am eternally grateful that each of them took the time to shine the light of their talents and their energy on this project.
Part Two is now available. I picked 2.12.21 for the release date mainly because how cool are those numbers?! What else goes in the liner notes? I always loved when the lyrics were included - you can scroll through those here. You can even buy a digital version of the sold out songbooks, which includes the words and chords to all the songs, a link to download full quality audio files, and a brief introduction with some thoughts on songwriting. Finally, here is some premium liner note content — song-by-song notes on The Information Age (Part Two):
“I Don’t Know What Freedom Means”
When I wrote this song, I thought of it as a rock song (see Part One). That summer, I saw Willie Nelson live for the first time at a festival in Ohio. I learned a lot from watching Willie play, especially that it’s okay to really take your time with a song. The slower, the better. The next day, I was playing piano with this lesson in mind and rediscovered this song as a 6/8 Willie style ballad. There’s a full version of it in this form, but it’s long and the album is already ballad heavy so I cut it. When I was sequencing the album and settled on the two part concept, I reimagined the slow version as an intro to Part Two and edited it with that in mind.
“I Trimmed My Beard Today”
I discovered these lyrics in an old notebook when I was moving from the 70 square foot art space room in San Francisco (“the loft”) to a larger room in the same space (“studio one”). It is an intimate and intense experience to interact with everything you own. You literally touch all your stuff when you move. For me, it inevitably results in a several-weeks-long memory and nostalgia journey. It’s also an opportunity for a fresh start. In that empty new room, with that old notebook open in front of me, I wrote this song about new beginnings.
“In a Different Life, in a Different Time”
I wrote this on the road in Arkansas after meeting a particularly compelling woman. It is an elegy for something that never existed, but might have under different circumstances. The music and the words for the chorus of this song just floated into my head that night in my hotel room. I love when a song happens like that. I just grabbed the guitar and transcribed what was coming through me. When a song arrives in that way — just shows up all at once — I never question whether it is “good” or not. I just trust it, try to get as much of it as purely as possible, and move on.
“You Gotta Keep a Secret”
This melody and chorus has been floating around in my head for a long time. I tried to attach it to a bunch of different songs over the years and it never fit right. The residency finally gave me the time and space to sit down and work on it and figure it out. And also rock.
“Thinking About the Bad”
This song evolved over time and some of the words eventually changed into the version on Part One. When I went back and listened to the original demo, I was surprised by the slightly different lyrics and chord changes. Totally forgot about them. This is basically an exact transcription of that demo. I don’t know if anyone else hears it this way, but Elliott Smith is a direct influence here. When I was living in Echo Park in Los Angeles, his ghost was omnipresent. So was his despair.
“You Better Believe Somebody”
Bluesy number here. Sick guitar solo? I wrote these lyrics in the spring of 2016 and rediscovered them when I was collecting songs for the album. The words seemed to have become more true over time, particularly in the era of “fake news” with the 45th president commanding our collective consciousness. When I wrote them, I was thinking about mental health and how many vastly different perspectives there are about it. Who do you believe, especially when you are suffering and need help? There is a lot of bad information out there. There are as many untalented mental health professionals as there are untalented dentists. In my experience, it is very worthwhile to do the hard and time-consuming work of searching for somebody who you can believe.
“Wedding Day”
One of the gifts of setting aside six weeks to be an artist in residence and focus only on recording was that I got a lot of work done. There was nothing else to do. After I recorded all the new songs, I started listening to older voice memos and demos. I found two very long recordings called “Wedding Day” and “Wedding Day 2,” both made on the same day. I can’t remember exactly, but I think these were made in 2010 or 2011. I know I wrote the lyrics on the subway in New York and recorded these improvised versions when I got back to Los Angeles. Then I mostly forgot them. Once in awhile, I’d rediscover them and think they were too heavy and too long (and honestly, I was too lazy to work through them and learn them and turn them into finished songs). But now, finally, I had the time! I recorded both of them…and then immediately decided they were still too heavy and too long and dismissed them again. When I left The Sanctuary, I gave Katie & Solomon a couple cassettes of rough mixes and included these songs. Awhile later, Katie said she really liked “Wedding Day 2” and thought I should include it on the album. I listened again and was finally able to hear it as a song (a very long and very heavy song). If Katie likes it, maybe someone else will too. It has grown to be one of my favorites on the album. The songbooks were printed before I decided to include it so it is not in there.
“I’m Beautiful”
It took a very long time for this song to come together. Pop quiz: what is “the greatest love of all” in that Whitney Houston song? It’s learning to love yourself! That’s what this song is about. I’m very aware that “I’m Beautiful” is a loaded title, but it’s also hard earned for me to be able to see myself as beautiful and Whitney Houston is awesome. I love the shape Jonathan gave this song in the mixing process. Really tied the room together.
“The Information Age”
The first song I recorded for the album was the rock version of this, which is on Part One. I was stoked about it, but I was also initially pretty sure that it was too much. I hadn’t yet decided that the ethos of this project was going to be to make a big messy mixtape and just put it all out there. A couple days later, I recorded this mellow version (thinking this would definitely be the “real” one that would end up on an eventual 10-12 song album). When I kept recording and creating more content, the double album concept crept in and wouldn’t go away. I love how these two versions of the title track work like bookends in the sequence now. The loud one yells at you, demanding attention and announcing its presence. This quiet one is reflective as the sun finally begins to set on the album.
“It Gets Bad, but it Gets Better”
This song means a lot to me because it’s the first song I wrote that felt like magic since committing to full sobriety. It proved to me that I will still be able to access that unconscious and elusive wellspring of creation that lives inside of me. It was a massive relief to feel it burst forth and it was very rewarding to do the work of harnessing it and shaping it into a song with a clear mind and conscious intent.
“The New Place”
I can tell you exactly where and when I wrote this song: The Rising Star Sports Ranch Resort in Mesquite, Nevada in November 2016 just after the presidential election. A friend of mine was staying at an artist retreat property in Escalante, UT and invited me to come stay for a week. I flew into Las Vegas, rented a car, and got this sweet Priceline hotel deal for the night. The Rising Star Sports Ranch Resort was brand spanking new. I may have been the first person to sleep in that room. A new administration had just been elected, the times they were a’changing again, I had just emerged into the light after an eleven month depression, and there was suddenly a romantic interest in my life. The world felt fresh and new and full of possibility all over again.
“Time To Be Here Now”
I had this music and melody for a year before I wrote lyrics to it. I would sing it to myself all the time and I loved it so much. I was really worried I wouldn’t find the right words for it (this same experience happened with “Young Ones” from North Star). One of the most fun parts of making up a song is that you can sing it to yourself throughout the day and work through it over time. You can “write” it in line at the grocery store or in the shower. Fragments of these lyrics materialized slowly and came into focus piece by piece. I can give up on my dreams. Giving up in this context is letting go. It is joyous and freeing. It is arriving fully in the present.