“Static”: A Playlist

Philip C Curtis’s RETURN OF THE LONG BILLED NORT

“Static” is the first collaborative effort between Adam Silverstein (my MEMOIRS and nearly all subsequent efforts collaborator) and me. I had written these lyrics with no clue as to what to do about a melody, so I sent them to Adam, who replied with a tape cassette of a demo a few weeks later (for you kids out there, a tape cassette was a medium for recording music back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s... we didn't have the ability to send mp3s, but that's a story for another time). While I didn't feel the arrangement suited my style of singing, I loved the melody he'd crafted and began working on my own version.

Having drawn lyrical inspiration from Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, I now drew musical inspiration from the sparseness of Dar Williams titular “Mortal City,” I stripped down the arrangement Adam had sent me until I'd got to something haunting and plaintive. Woven into the arrangement are motifs that nod subtly to a few artists from whom I’ve also drawn inspiration (The Cure, Fleetwood Mac).

Originally, I had wanted strings on the song (and, indeed, I’ve created an amazing string arrangement) but couldn’t/can’t afford to bring a string section into the studio, so instead I opted to transform that arrangement into something more electronic and ambient behind the piano and vocal. I hope you enjoy what you hear, and you can hear not just this song but an entire playlist at This Spotify Playlist. (Contents below)

The Random Hubiak Band/Static

Aimee Mann/I’ve Had It

Crowded House/Better Be Home Soon

Foo Fighters/Learn to Fly

Fleetwood Mac/Gypsy

The Cure/Lullaby

Madonna/Frozen

Bianca Jazmine/The Key

The Blue Nile/Stay

Peter Gabriel/Red Rain

Arcade Fire/Wake Up

The New Pornographers/Whiteout Conditions

John Cale/Chinese Envoy

Peter John/The Majestic Sun Keep ’a Rising

Eurythmics/17 Again

Crowded House/Together Alone

Rusted Root/Back to the Earth

Passion Pit/Where We Belong

Erasure/Take Me Back

Depeche Mode/Waiting for the Night

New Order/Vanishing Point

Annie Lennox/Dark Road

Ásgeir/Dreaming

Suzanne Vega/Pilgrimmage

Madonna/Sky Fits Heaven

Lindsey Buckingham/D.W. Suite

Dar Williams/Mortal City

Painting: Philip C Curtis’s RETURN OF THE LONG BILLED NORT