"goodbye letters"
an E.P. by the
Mercy Choir
1. Goodbye Letters
2. Go Go Go
3. Rank Stranger
4. Carrie Anne
5. Steel Is Strong
click the above links to download or stream individual tracks
click here to download a .zip file of the entire E.P.
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"Most
relationships end badly or... they wouldn't end at all."
Dear Listener,-Robyn Hitchcock on stage at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ 11/14/2004 Here are five songs for you to listen to. They were not all written at the same time. In fact, one of them, Rank Stranger, was written in 1942 by Albert E. Brumley. I remember I first heard that song in East Haven, Connecticut. I was sitting on the floor and my friend Chris was looking down at me and laughing. I can't remember if he was laughing at me. His apartment was very close to the ocean, so maybe he was laughing at the ocean. I fell in love with the lyrics of the song that very first time I heard it. It was being played by the Stanley Brothers and the music sounded quite a bit different than what you'll hear on this E.P. I hope Chris likes my version. I think he'll find it funny. Though these songs weren't written at the same time, they were all recorded in the same place: In the living room of my apartment in New Haven, Connecticut. I have about 20 more songs I'd like to record soon, but these five seemed to go together. That's why I recorded them and why I'm releasing this small E.P. now. The others will come out at another time in another format and for a different reason. I suppose this would be a good time to tell you what the songs are about. But, I don't think I'm going to do that. I've never had very good timing in life nor in my drumming. Luckily there's no drumming on this record. These songs generally speak for themselves. They're about loss, betrayal, longing, etc... They're mostly played on the acoustic guitar and they're all fairly quiet. I figured if I didn't make a folk record soon people would get fed up with me going around town claiming to be a folk singer. I'm "releasing" this album for free as I've been told no one buys CD's anymore. However, if you'd like a tangible copy you can scroll down and click the paypal button and I'll send you one for five dollars (six for non U.S. residents). The financial support is appreciated and will go towards funding other Dead Language Records releases. As usual, they'll be hand assembled with love and include a bonus track, cover art and lyrics. I expected to have a lot more to say about this music, but I don't. I will say these songs were recorded during an especially turbulent and strange time in my life. Luckily, that time is over now and things are still strange but strange in a good way. There are lots of people who helped me get through this ugly patch. They know who they are and I hope they know how grateful I am though it's occasionally difficult for me to put it into words. I'd also like to say thank you to the boys in the Mercy Choir who do so much to bring these songs to life on stage. Besides Rank Stranger, all the songs were written by me and I hope you enjoy them and I hope you'll come see the Mercy Choir play the next time we're in your town. Love, Paul Belbusti The above photograph was taken by a very talented man called Peter Schafer. His photographs can be seen here: http://hookstrapped.viewbook.com/ Thank you, Peter for your kindness. This E.P. was mastered by Ben Adrian: http://www.feedbackloop.net/ |
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