Pre-Production

Pre-Production work for a new album has begun. We’re waiting on our buddy Dennis to recover from a recent surgery so we can fill these scratch tracks out a little more.

Alexis Mahler records "Cruel to be Kind"

I talked with Alexis Mahler at the end of 2019 about producing a cover of my song “Cruel to be Kind”. I was aware she had performed it a few times at shows when she moved to Portland, Oregon. I wanted to hear a dual cello version. Time went by, then in early 2021 she dropped this beauty in my inbox. It really jazzed me up and I was eager to share it, but we were in the midst of unpredictable work schedules, raising a one year old, and moving out of our apartment in the Lakeshore Park building. While all this was going on, I sent the track off to Steffen Yazvac for mastering while Alexis built some promotional plans up around the release. I reached out to Nate Peltier (@_garlique on instagram) about building some imagery around the track. He had shared a video of himself playing “Cruel to be Kind” out on his porch back when he lived in Montreal. That and his recent move back to the south shore of Lake Superior in Wisconsin made me think it would be a good connection to have him do the artwork for the single. East Coast, West Coast, Great Lakes.

When things finally stabilized after the move, we released the single and this video accompaniment. Johnny Himself, who I became aware of by way of my friend Matthew Fowler, shot and edited it in Portland, Oregon.

The single has been making the rounds on some nice playlists and Alexis has been picking up a number of new listeners and followers as a result.

This recording was arranged and produced by Alexis Mahler at her home studio in Portland, Oregon
Mixed by Clara Baker at Rye Room in Portland, Oregon
Mastered by Steffen Prentiss Yazvac in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Artwork by Nate Peltier (instagram.com/@_garlique)
Written by me: John Isaac Davey

Toss Your Javelin

Toss Your Javelin has been germinating for years. The third long playing album by John Davey is a collection of maxims and self-injunctions set to memory evoking melodies.

A black and white photo taped to a wall in Kansas City, the spiny ridge along Chimney Tops in Eastern Tennessee, the train station platform in Lansing in the dreary rain, neck craned to see the parade down Washington Street on the 4th of July, mammoth Ore Boats chugging in and out of Upper Harbor from all over the Great Lakes. This collage is the running start which throws the weighted dart.

”Lower Tiers” is the centerpiece of the album. Its arrangement borrows pages from The Great American Songbook, seeking common ground with 20th century greats Irving Berlin, Paul Simon, and Randy Newman.
The bookends of the album are the newest compositions, “Q” and “Boreal Lullaby”, both fruits of a tree transplanted. “Q” is the disentanglement of overlaying personalities and the proper identification of a newly emerging self. “Boreal Lullaby” is both old and new. It’s the hymn we hummed in church. It’s the subject of a trial, a lamentation, a psalm.
”Hard Times, Strong Men” is the outlier. Pulsating and fuzzy and rhythmic. It’s Jules Vern, Robert Louis Stevenson and George Harrison at a game of craps. Harrison rolls snake eyes. A prophetic warning. A new archetype.

Toss Your Javelin was crowdfunded by 134 generous supporters.

Songs, guitars, and vocals by John Davey
Production, mixing, and arrangement of a variety of instruments performed by Shane Leonard in Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Mastered by TW Walsh in Boston, Massachusetts
Engineering by Evan Middlesworth at Pine Hollow Audio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Basses by Jeremy Boettcher
Piano and other keys by Joshua Gallagher