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========================>>>>>>>> Two new D+ releases: What is Doubt For? and On Purpose
Suddenly we recorded a new album. I don't know how this happened, we got together a few times and I guess the tape was rolling. It was so spontaneous and lazy. Bret Lunsford is calling the new one "What is Doubt For?" It's quite similar to "No Mystery." You can buy "No Mystery" here and possibly "What is Doubt For?" and "On Purpose" here soon. There 's a really loud song that leads off the album and I'm singing the first line which is unique to this and the last record "No Mystery." It's not available yet, but I just listened to the master and it's sounding really good so maybe by What the Heckfest...
D+ ON PURPOSE
This is a retrospective D+ spanning a dozen years of recordings and songs of Bret Lunsford with Phil Elverum and Karl Blau.
Here's what Blau says of it, and in general of Bret--taken from the liner notes:
PRACTICE MAKES "ON PURPOSE"
Here are a bunch of songs from the first era of D+. I really hope we don't call this D+ Greatest Hits. That would just not be true; there's hardly been any radio play of this band and they're all just incredible pieces to the puzzle of the mind of Bret Lunsford with Blalverum embellishments. Many of these particular recordings were demos we made and one or two from compilations otherwise unreleased. An illustration is rendered here of the open-mindedness to recording we explored.
The nonchalance of recording with Bret and Phil started in Calvin's basement. It became apparent to me that the method of recordings by Calvin Johnson placed the emphasis more on what happened at the actual performance of the song (D+ often recorded the music all together then overlaid the singing) than how the song "sounded." And to be more specific and accurate, if we played through the song-- got through it-- it was, like, cool. This approach grew and developed in my mind, and became key in enjoyment of the recording process. To stress the practice of performance and to get out of the way as much as possible on the recording end-- this was ideal. Resulting music stays alive and breathing and the potential for revisiting the songs increases because the idea isn't beaten down in process. More recently we took this practice further; the tracks from "No Mystery"(2007) were mostly recorded in Phil's living room together into one microphone--one track-- mono.
Practice on stage was never discouraged. It was a place where we found ourselves with our instruments. On stage was just over here instead of over there. "When you play shows, don't drink doubles..." It was not unlikely to stop a song midway for a longish pause and then go back into it where we left off. This was all practice it seemed.
Early D+ shows must've seemed so awkward. Looking back on us: Phil - teen skater with a perpetual grimace hitting the drums so hard and bored; me with smile I couldn't wipe off, bare foot, long haired forest dwelling hunchback, pumping endlessly optimistic basslines; Bret's slur and slower-than-decipherable-by-youth prattle between songs, distorted, strummed open chords.
The physical make-up of our sound augmented drastically after the Deception Pass and Mistake recordings. We became a vocal group with guitar accompaniments. It was something barely mentioned between us the metamorphasis was so natural. At the time of this release, I think we're somewhere in middle ground: distorted vocal harmonies with loud distant drums, still the anchor of words meant to rack your brain c/o Lunsford.
True there is much wincing today on my behalf when I listen to my "harmonies" shouted over Bret's delivery on the first 2 D+ albums. But this also reminds me how ecstatic I would and still become in engaging with these words. If you've ever heard or read them I don't have to tell you how Bret's lyrics work like a Choose-Your-Own- Adventure book. Each line Bret writes has at least two meanings to offer, D+ lyrics usually have 3 to 5 stanza's--lots of possibility. This is homage to me the listener, it's telling me "I respect that you will make your decisions based on who you are and with respect to your environment." Basically, Bret's lyrics read like an anarchist handbook. Trust your conscience.
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