You may have seen some old pictures of the Haberdashery studio on youtube - they were used in some of the videos for the "Valence" singles. After recently moving into a larger space, I was able to set up the studio in one of the small bedrooms, which really lets me spread out! The first thing I recorded in this studio was episode 9 of the podcast, which was posted on June 2nd.

The newest addition to my closet. I just couldn't resist these - the spats are actually part of the shoe, and I love how they look! Hopefully they'll be making an appearance in a video or two later in the year :)

I recently finished a remix of a new track from Hyperbubble, called "Geometry". The song is from their new album, "Drastic Cinematic". It's such an interesting process to attempt remixing, and I have only done it a few times. The first was a remix of one of my own songs, "Slowly". Then I submitted a Haberdashery remix of Erasure's "When A Lover Leaves You". That was the first time I had worked with someone else's material. Now I've been given the chance to work with Hyperbubble, which has been really fun! "Geometry" is a really cool song, and it's also very different stylistically from my own work. Remixing really makes you think differently about how to approach music, so it's a great exercise to go through from time to time. There may be a few more Haberdashery remixes in the works this year, and I look forward to seeing how they turn out!

Today the principal photography was shot for the video that will accompany the release of "The Last One That You Love", which comes out next month. The very talented Stefan Klenk was the cameraman, and we shot in various locations in Chicago. The idea of the video revolves around the old book/typewriter theme that runs throughout all of "Tonight The Angles". Some of the scenes take place in an imaginary time and setting, and others occur in a very present reality. The contrast of the antiquated typewriter against the modern backdrop of 2011 is very intriguing to me and hopefully will be interesting in the video! It was a lot of fun to run around the city with Stefan and Mark, and I'm looking forawrd to see how it will all come together :)

Today I'm finishing up the vocals for a remake of an old Haberdashery song, "Lie To Me". The original is from "Admirer", which was the first Haberdashery album. It came out in 2004, and in retrospect I wish I would have worked on it a little more and put it out the following year. I think I could have tightened up a lot of the rough parts in many of the songs (and there were lots of them). I really dislike listening to it now, and part of me wants to remove it from the catalog altogether. But another part of me still thinks that some of the songs are pretty good - as songs. So every once in a while I'm tempted to re-record one of them, and that's just what I'm doing right now. The picture above shows a comparison of the versions of "Lie To Me", on the left the 2004 version, and on the right the one for 2011. I'm still using Logic, but I think I've come a long way in how I use it. I plan to release the track as a b-side with next month's single, "Stay". I can't wait to hear everyone's reaction! :)

Practicing for the recording of the acoustic version of "Fall Into My Arms" :)

I ended up keeping the extra vocals I recorded at the last minute for "Fall Into My Arms". After listening to it with the additions a few times, I decided they really needed to be there. Plus, all the remixers opted to include them, so I took that as a good sign!