Broken Crystal Ball: Track-by-track album breakdown

Track 1: A Grain of Rice for More Time

It gets its name from the shaker sound you hear throughout. It's literally rice in a mason jar that I overdubbed after I got the drum mix from Jeff. The syncopation in the drums and the way the LFO synth in the background isn't quite in tune with the rest of the instruments gives you this hollow pit-of-your-stomach feeling. Like you're walking on thin ice or over a rickety rope bridge. I wanted to leave it separate from the other medleys to set that unassured tone.

Track 2: Placid Medley

Jeff played a lot of the bass lines on the record through his buddy Pat's Fender bass direct into a Golden Age preamp. The strings on it were years old and absolutely dead, so they behaved like flat-wound strings.

In many ways, the propulsion in "Back at the Desk" and "Placid" - the first two parts of this medley - are centered around his bass playing.

"Back at the Desk" was the first tune we did after Jeff built himself a desk in his rental house in Nashville, and it was us finding our groove after a stretch where we didn't create much of anything. There's a longing you hear in it that's apprehensive, but hopeful, I think that comes out more when it blends into "Placid."

Track 3: Smooth It Out

I'm a big fan of Wilco and their most recent record at the time we were tracking this was Schmilco, which I didn't like as much as their 2015 record Star Wars. But it has a song called "Someone to Lose" which has this excellent fuzz guitar played by Nels Cline in the chorus that I've admired. The guitar on "Smooth it Out" is a softer version of that fuzz tone in the left channel, and it's probably the closest I'll ever get to sounding like Nels Cline.

Track 4: Crystal Ball Medley

The echoing guitar on "Angelic" - the first cut in the medley - is probably the second most expansive sound on the record. The first being the colossal snare hits later on in "Carving Canyons."

I called it "Angelic" because there's this feeling of unattainable perfection in it that resolves into something more yearning (in "High Dollar, Low Buck") and then a feeling of jaded resignation (in "Broken Crystal Ball" itself).

Track 5: Reprisal Medley

"Fences Less Traveled" - the intro piece on this track - has a future wasteland soundtrack vibe to it. The title is a play on a few idioms: "Road less traveled," which is an unconventional choice of sorts and "Straddling the fence," which is not committing to a decision.

It blends perfectly into "A Reprisal" where you've made a choice, to retaliate. Or not even really to counter, but just to continue, not admitting defeat. "A Reprisal" also has my favorite propulsive bass line on the whole record.

Track 6: Sunset Medley

"Summer Sunset" is full of new instruments we were trying out. The acoustic guitar, I believe, is a Taylor that belongs to Jeff's wife, Mary. The synth I played on it was a new Korg Monologue I picked up for my birthday that Summer. And the synth on "Lowest Low" was a patch from Roli's Equator, which came with the Roli Blocks I bought Jeff the Christmas prior in 2017.

There's always a wave of inspiration you find when you play a new instrument on a recording for the first time. Songs are waiting to come out of them that are coaxed out by those first awkward interactions. It's the nervous energy and excitement manifesting.

Track 7: Canyons Medley

I already mentioned the massive snare on this, which was a bit of trickery in Pro Tools that I spent way too long creating and then attempting to get it to sit down in the mix.

"Downdraft" - the second track in the medley - has a drum sequence made up of sounds from my sample pack Still Life.

The kick drum is from a cereal box pounding on my kitchen counter. There's a lighter in there. There's also a pop from a lid closing.

The found sounds feel so much more full of breath than drum machine samples, probably because of the air you pick up around the sound through the mic. It tends to impart a weight to the sample, especially when you pitch them down.

Track 8: 70+ Hours

This might be my favorite piece of music I've ever made with Jeff. The drumbeat is so rickety, and the guitar notes presage the synth chord changes, which is really disorienting in a cool way. But the back half of this track with the sequenced drums - with the kick that never lands quite where you expect - and the synth lead, I was in the zone, and I'm still more proud of it than anything I've put to tape, maybe since Washes started.

Track 9: Pallets Medley

"Pallets" is so unassuming, but has this "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2" or "Sultans of Swing" guitar tone and approach that relies on compression and literally nothing else. There's nowhere to hide in that tone, so our performances had to be spot on.

The way it flows into "Drifter's March" - the second stanza in this medley - is deceiving. There's a sleight-of-hand to the way the landscape opens up when the sub synth drops in. It's the musical equivalent of the lemming that follows its friends willingly off the cliff.

Track 10: Skip to the Start

I remember Jeff uploading the first four tracks of this before I even cracked open the laptop that morning. And the chord progression was so good and resolved that all I could add were the bright, cheeky synth stabs and the couple reverb bongo hits.

It has an acceptance in it that feels counterintuitive to the theme of the record but makes sense to me. It's that feeling of 'Well, this didn't work out the way I planned. Might as well make the best of it.'