Black Swan Lane's Upcoming LP
The Last Time In Your Light
is Now Available for PreOrder
TheLast Time In Your Light
was recorded over a period of a year and a half and is slated for release in May 2013. It contains 12 mastered tracks on it. Pre-order it now for $13.00 US
domestic or $19.00 for all orders outside the USA. All prices include shipping
and handling and all orders come with an official Black Swan Lane guitar pick and sticker.
Taken from Jack Richard Sobel's blog on the Black Swan Lane website:
The Last Time
In Your Light
A big sigh of
relief. A huge breath as I finally relax and breathe. The newest BLACK SWANLANE album is complete. Just got word from the manufacturer that the album is
being shipped out. This was the longest we have ever spent recording and mixing
a record. A lot of thought was put into this one and some tough moments were spent
deciding which tracks to keep and which to put aside. If I can listen to them a
few hundred times and still love them, they usually make the cut.
We started
recording this one at the beginning of 2012, right after the big US tour. Home,
one of the singles on the album, was the first track that we got down on tape
and we were off to a hopeful start. Writers block and health issues blocked our
path for the next few months and our promise to deliver a record in 2012 was
improbable. We also took a big detour to help record and produce Andy
Whitaker’s first solo album which was delivered mid 2012 to very positive
reviews worldwide. If you don’t have Things That Happened On Earth, it is about
time you get it. Andy’s album brings the great Manchester vibe back to the
scene.
Anyway, in the summer of
2012, we seriously got back to writing and recording new BLACK SWAN LANE
material. A lot had been happening around me personally, so the writers block
faded and new music started pouring out. Our great friend, band manager and
girl Friday, Tara, in Arizona, had a near death experience as well. Swimming
with sharks off the coast of Columbia can’t be the safest of things to
do. The notes from that event and similar ones, helped inspire some real
life and meaningful lyrics. You will have to listen to the song, Malpelo,
on the new album to find out more…
There are a
lot of references to god and a higher power throughout the album. The
references are not to be taken as religious in nature, but more as questioning
theology and whether there is a higher power up there pulling all the strings.
Imagine trying to make heads or tails of the universe and why everything can be
so mucked up at times. I have, however, always been envious of people who can
so faithfully give their entire lives over to something that has never made any
logical or scientific sense to me. When you are lying in a hospital bed,
thinking this is it, you sure do start hoping there is more to come though.
The rest of
the album is filled with some existentialism thoughts, future hopes, sad
times and delineations of people that you once thought were your friends,
who are really nothing at all. We did decide to include the lyrics inside the
cover of this one, so happy reading.
We are not an
easy band to deal with in the studio. Forget the fact that John, our lead
guitarist, is a complete perfectionist when it comes to tone, pitch and such..I
typically write the music first and then have to come up with the arduous task
of placing words on top because you’re supposed to have words, of course.
Sometimes the words don’t always fit nicely. This creates situations of having
to decide whether to re record the entire thing or start cutting and pasting
things around. There are other occasions where you believe the song is
perfect going into the mixing studio and then develop feelings for change half
way through. Ultimately, songs that were once intentionally eight minutes in
length may get cut down to five for consideration to the listener. We
definitely got our money’s worth out of Jeff Tomei, who mixes our records. It’s
never super easy, but the final album always comes out wonderfully. The
mastering was done by Donn Aaron in Atlanta, who I highly recommend for any and
all musical projects.
At the end of
the recordings, I am always looking for that one big one. On the last album, it
was the song, Low. It’s that last minute push for the song that you think
will make the whole record better. On this record, we got two. Stranger & Relax
and Breathe. Of course, we made them the first two tracks on the album and
fought over which deserved the first spot. When we laid down the tracks for
these two songs, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and knew we had a
complete record. When Stranger was fully recorded, I kept hearing (and dreaming
about) a full on African American choir going on in the background. Since I am
not a member of an African American baptist church and funds were getting lower
by the hour in mixing, I settled on a black teenage girl I overheard singing to
herself at a skating ring one night. It seemed like fate to approach a stranger
to sing on a track called Stranger. Dyiesha, with the proper approval of
her parents, was quickly invited to become our backup singer and meet us at
Cock of the Walk studio, where chainsaw wielding, southern rocker, Jesse James
Dupree resides. We could have made that whole scene into a reality show. A shy
teenager out of her element, singing her debut on a BLACK SWAN LANE record
while Jesse is filming snipits in the other room for Full Throttle Saloon on
Tru TV. Lauren Fay, who sung on our last record, and who did an amazing job,
was out having another child, so I was very happy to find a very last minute
replacement.
We had tons
of names typed on the cover of who we were going to thank, but we ran out of
room. And of course, I felt I was going to forget so many, so we removed
the whole thing. If you have ever tried to promote us or help in anyway, you
know who you are and you know you have our sincere gratitude for life.
I could tell
you several hundred other stories, but I’ll stop for now. Bottom line-please
support the little guys producing music that is far better than what is being
drained into your heads on the radio at the moment. Yes, there is a new Ke$ha
album out and I hear New Kids On The Block just reunited, but I would highly
recommend buying the new BLACK SWAN LANE album because it is not going to suck.
I’m very proud of this one and a ton of effort and funds went into producing
it. Buy it and tell your friends to support us, so it won’t be – The Last Time
In Your Light.
Always,
Jack Richard
Sobel / BLACK SWAN LANE
xx
