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"The Way You Call" (Demo)
🕑 Added 2021-05-12 18:13:37 +0000 UTCThe very first recording of "The Way You Call" is very much like it appears on the album. Mostly me singing while playing an acoustic guitar. As we were preparing to record the album, we decided to try some different approaches to the songs just to see what we could come up with.
One of the most valuable things that our producer Jeff Aderman did on our album If/When was to encourage us to push ourselves, but to also let us know when he thought that we were "overcooking" something. This demo recording of "The Way You Call" is an excellent example of this.
I was thinking of Jon Anderson's solo album Olias of Sunhillow when I started to come up with this vastly different "full band" approach to "The Way You Call". The sparsely played but giant sounding percussion, fluttering vocal flourishes, and epic, almost Celtic vibe.
But when we showed it to Jeff, he thought it was entirely the wrong direction. He felt that the power of the song was in its intimacy and simple arrangement. He thought that, while cool, all of these additions did not ultimately make the song better.
Ultimately, we agreed that less was more with this song. But I still really enjoy listening to this version. Joe's piano playing is beautiful, Pat's additional guitar is moody and melodic, and I had a lot of fun playing the drums.
I'm happy to pull back the curtain and show this curious demo to you. I hope you enjoy it. And please let us know what you think in the comments!
This recording of "The Way You Call" was performed by:
Dan McGowan - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Drums
Pat McGowan - Electric Guitar, Mandolin
Joe Dorsey - Keyboards
Comments
Thank you Vincent! The song is in dropped D tuning with a capo on the 4th fret. I will make guitar tutorial for the song this week!
What's the tuning of this song and is there a capo? Having a hard time figuring the exact voicings you're using :) love both versions btw! One of the best singer-songwritter song in the last decade atleast!
We should probably crowd fund that.
Yes but when are we gonna get to hear the 12” dance remix of this?? 🧐
I can really hear the Olias inspiration in this version. Almost sounds like an entirely different song. I have to agree with Jeff that the more stripped back version suits this song the best, especially when you revisit it at the end of Creature. Thanks for sharing this version, it definitely deserves to be heard!
You got it! and maybe just as important, WHEN to do less!
Thank YOU for listening!
genius is knowing how to do less
I do agree that this is a fun version of the song, but there really is something magical about the simplified version. Thank you for sharing this with us!!
