Brushfire (2023)
In 2015, I went to the legendary, but now-defunct, Wall-to-Wall Studios with engineer, Chris Brickley (Wilco, R. Kelly). We recorded drums, bass, and acoustic guitars between two days for about 6 songs. For about 5 years I tinkered with the sessions on and off, never making the progress I was quite envisioning. But in 2020, I finished a version of "Hairpin Trigger," establishing a workflow that I wanted to repeat across the rest of the tracks, releasing the EP, "At Last." Personally-mixed, over time I realized the songs don't sound quite the way they deserve. There's an element of properly translating your music to an audience which is the dark arts of mixing. Just because it sounds good in one pair of headphones or one set of speakers doesn't mean everyone is having the same experience.
In 2022, I linked up with engineer, Troy Cruz, for a re-imagining of the Maxwell-Thomas hit, "Goodbye, Goodnight." So thrilled with the entire process of getting that from conception to realization, I knew I had a co-collaborator in finally bringing "At Last" to the big kid's table.
In 2023, I introduce to you, "Drowning in Desire." An entire re-imagining of "At Last" stripped to the best 4 songs, beginning with "Brushfire." You may know most of the titles, but you've never heard the songs this way before. Except for "Hairpin Trigger," Tim Schiltz is bringing their bass grooves to the party, complimenting Greg Hartwig's inimitable performance from back in 2015. There are new arrangements, new words, new melodies, new synthesizers, new everything.
On "Brushfire," Quinn Dean offers his lead guitar work, setting the stage for a very fruitful release schedule in the Maxwell-Thomas universe. "Drowning in Desire" is the first step of many leading well into 2024 with new releases.
Please enjoy this new iteration on an M-T classic that is forever the definitive version.