“As Collective Hope Sets In”

After setting a plan of operation for ourselves for us to play a cohesive live version incorporating the two different sections I felt “As Morning Sets In” was made of, everyone was too enthusiastic and upbeat about exploring the song’s evolving nature to expose the extreme tiredness we were all dealing with at that point. Even Mikko had an extra measure of his usual “jump” and was incredibly into it. We now know each other well enough to be empowered by every singular aspect of each one’s involvement and commitment. That is the true energy of a collective. When you are synched as one, you are always moving forward, no matter how “off”, “worn out”, “stressed” or “doubtful” you might be. The natural current you are in becomes a high stream of life transcending the very essence of the actualization flow you are floating into. That’s exactly what I was envisioning when I decided to assemble a band such as “The Long Shadows”; a self-abandoning force gathering together with the sole purpose of being at the service of the heart and soul of music. And if the band’s core has been a stabilized energy, it is called to be significantly expended as my creative adventure keeps on unfolding itself, the more I trust myself.
The new rendition of “As Morning Sets In” was incredibly “it”. Everything was. The way each of the band members added their part, which was absolutely amazing, highlighted the song’s delicate entity of nostalgic vulnerability and yet hopefully luminous assemblage I initially foresaw when I considered the song to close the album’s journey. Mikko, who usually coordinates the whole affair from the studio control room, was literally amongst us playing in the Upper Room. He was calling the different sections’ changes with a soft voice. He was both living and incarnating the song’s deepest let go. It was a magical type of moment to be a part of, one that requires absolute surrender. You are no longer a unique color, you are a shade taking part of a canvas made of a million different tints. And that’s what the “Long Shadows” mean to me; it’s a congregation of distinct and dissimilar flashes creating a unique beam of light shining through the darkness of my creative spirit, looking for a way to radiate ever more freely. If that vision was on full display before my blissful eyes, it was my heart that was blooming in a pure elevation at that very instant.
We even ended up recording the whole song a couple of times to make sure the technical aspects of it wouldn’t be a problem later on. Every passage was as soulful as the preceding one. You have to keep in mind that recording a 6-piece band playing live in such close proximity is not as simple as it looks like. It’s actually quite an art, one that is slowly disappearing with modern technologies and also due to the fact that fewer artists are able to express themselves with physical instruments now. Therefore, it makes it particularly rewarding to touch the invisible in the context of a collective leap of faith. As good as you might be with a computer, nothing could come close to the emotional expression of human unrestrained uninhibitedness. At least, for me it is. Even though I like electronic music and hip hop, creation for me goes back to the embrace of shivering realities over the replication of computerized sensations.

 We all concluded the session for “As Morning Sets In” in a global state of euphoria. We hugged each other, and took an instant to fully seize the moment… Nobody wanted to leave the Upper Room. We knew this was a real breakthrough for us, one that I believe was even transcending the song itself. In some strange way, it reminded me of my favorite book… Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”, which is about anyone’s capacity to have resilience, courage, and perseverance while facing what looks like an impossible challenge to face and grow through. That was “it” for us… From Jeff saying that the song sucked about 10 days prior, Ben “fighting” with Mikko over the necessity of revisiting it, and Mikko’s insistence to prevent us from scrapping the whole thing, all the way to now…with everyone on the verge of tears. What happened in between goes far beyond chord progression changes or sonic rearrangements. It’s hard to pinpoint what it is, but that type of intense situation is what bonds people together way deeper than the task they are working on and the potential accomplishment it might turn into. The true outcome of the project is experienced long before it will ever be completed. For us, it just happened “now”.

It was almost 10 pm, and dinner was ready at 7:30 pm, which helped perpetuate our tradition of eating cold and dry meals. Let’s say that tonight tasted particularly awesome considering the circumstances it took place in. We even had wine our friends had offered to us not knowing what we had been through all day. A little wink from the invisible saying “Keep pressing on”. (Yes, the “invisible” talks to me in my head as well. That’s why it’s a little crowded in there sometimes 😉 ) We were all burned out but didn’t want to leave the table. We were talking and laughing. If we knew the next day would potentially be even more intense, the moment was worth a celebration and we all dwelled on it to the fullest, until we started to leave one after the other to get some rest.


I took Mikko aside before heading back to my office – I was too excited to take notes for this actual journal post – thanked him for the day, and also felt compelled to tell him I was proud of him, that he had shown a lot of leadership and personal humility today. He turned that to the collective accomplishment before I insisted on saying that I wasn’t talking to the collective, but to him, not the music producer, not the ship’s captain but him, the person. “Take it, it’s yours, brother.” He genuinely smiled back at me, and said as we walked away: “Oh Alex, wait for a second.” Would we have a more intimate conversation?, I wondered. “Tomorrow, if you can arrive around 10:30-11:00 am to work on your guide vocal, that would be great. Have a good night.” He smiled and I laughed within. See, that’s what complicity is all about for me.


Note:
As I told you in the diary about the “Ballad of Sleeping Leo”, Leonard wasn’t particularly happy with me waking him up at 5:30 am this morning and was kinda mad I didn’t bring him to the studio all day. So, look what happened when he finally joined “me” in the Upper Room.

Not only did he run right in front of me, but he went straight to Mikko. If you pay close attention to the video, you’ll notice that he even turned his head to make sure I was looking at him doing so. Ouch, that’s a hurtful payback, Leonard. If you want to play rough, watch out tomorrow. Now the sleep depravation game is officially on 🙂