Jay had given up music. Sort of like how Amy Winehouse had given up drugs. Except that when Jay fell off the wagon he just started another band. His life was taking a new direction and so was his music. Jay sought a departure from the heavy formalism of his earlier work--he wanted to be open to surprise, for the music to have room to breathe.

I got involved in a way that almost never works. I asked to be in the band. I barely knew Jay. There were already two guitarists and an oud player, so it was agreed that I could play bass. Graham decided he'd rather play drums, though, and Joe was just plain busy. Before the first rehearsal I'd already been moved to guitar, trying to keep up with the whirling dervish of Jonathan's oud.

This was in the spring of 2010. We rehearsed that summer and started to settle on something of a sound. Our first bass player moved to New York before we had even played a show, so Jay called on his old high school friend, Brennan. He fit.

It was an easy band to be in. We didn't talk about what we were doing so much, we just plugged in and played and it worked. There were no big egos on display, no drama, no pressure to be anything other than what we were. We played some shows and people said nice things about us. We enjoyed ourselves.

Jonathan was a wanderer. He had picked up the oud in his travels in the middle east. I never really asked why he came to Durham, or what he did here. It really shouldn't have come as a big shock that he had decided to clear out and go do something different. People do those kinds of things. He was heading to Argentina. He was going to sell everything he owned except his fiddle and clear out in June. We wished him luck and planned a last hurrah in my living room for my daughter's first birthday party.

I recorded it. We've produced scant evidence of our existence as a band--this is pretty much it. It was a pretty loose set. Not our best, not our worst. We didn't hit all the notes quite exactly the way we meant to, but I enjoy listening to it. I think the fun we were having comes across, as well as our comfort with each other as a band.

I'm proud of it. I hope you enjoy listening to it. --Chris Rossi

Recorded May 15th, 2011 at Daniela's house.

Jay Cartwright (Accordion, Singing), Jonathan Thompson (Oud, Fiddle, Singing), Chris Rossi (Guitar), Brennan Watson (Bass), Graham Cox (Drums)

Jay did the song writing, except for Flags Are Burning which is by Jared Yeaman, They Won't Find me which is by Nathan Asher, We Won't Go Down in History but We'll Go Down With the Ship which Jonathan wrote and Chinese Kilt which is by Chris Rossi
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Jay had given up music. Sort of like how Amy Winehouse had given up drugs. Except that when Jay fell off the wagon he just started another band. His life was taking a new direction and so was his music. Jay sought a departure from the heavy formalism of his earlier work--he wanted to be open to ... Read More