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

"Left Arm" by Steffen Prentiss Yazvac

LISTEN / DOWNLOAD: bandcamp / iTunes / Spotify / Amazon / youtube

On January 26th, 2021 I released “Left Arm” again. This time it’s Steffen Prentiss Yazvac performing it (please follow him). It’s percussive and Steffen took surprising liberties with the phrasing. His singing, which has always been dynamic, hits a new level here. It’s satisfying to hear Steffen’s take on this song because of our collaboration on Living Is Trying. I presented the idea of that song being the opener on that album and described how I wanted it to sound. Steffen understood it and made it sound just like I had it in my head. That’s been our working relationship since we were kids.

A while ago I started thinking about what other forms I’d like to see some of my songs take. I had some memories from the road of playing songs my friends had written. A “friendship covers” album had always been in the back of my mind. I even started recording some with Steffen once. I decided it would be a good start to ask some of my friends to come up with a recording of one of my songs that resonated with them.

I’m proud of this song and how it’s grown. I feel proud of Steffen as my friend for taking something I made and making it his and making it better. The production is superb. Steffen used a new analog synthesizer and the tone reminds me of a trombone on some parts. His drumming and bass playing dance closely together. The guitar playing oscillates between rock strumming, staccato picking, and delicate grooving. All well placed. Dallas Johnson provides the breaths between on the electric piano.

I hope you enjoy this many times over like I have.

-John

The Staying or the Leaving Cup?

I watched this music lesson by Chilly Gonzales on composition for beginners on QRadio a few years ago. Among other wonderful little flashes of insight, the simple idea really struck me of pedaling on a note or one chord, then jotting down whatever melody comes to you that wheels its way around the note being played. That's what got the ball rolling on this song "Leaving Cup". Thanks Chilly, you crazy bastard. 

This was one, lyrically, that took me quite a while to finally get down. I remember singing the very beginnings of it to my friends Anthony and Erin during a recording session in Atlanta during the summer of 2014. The mystery of the line about "her" changing forms and flitting around the room kept pulling me back to the half-written song until it was finished. Of course, this wasn't the first time I played with the concept of shape shifting (here's one example and here's another), but it did reveal to me in the second half of the song what all those shape shifting songs had always been about for me. I read a book called On Truth: the Tyranny of Illusion. It was life changing. I played with a lot of the themes from there in the second half of the song. I strongly recommend the book which you can download for free. 

When I moved to Marquette, Michigan, I started this band with a couple of guys I met during the first few months I lived here. We played, wrote, and learned a bunch of songs together. "Leaving Cup" was one of the first songs I wanted us to arrange all together as a band. We ended up going out into the woods for a whole weekend and recording a bunch of demos, drinking a bunch of beers, playing Frisbee, taking saunas, cooking food, and hiking around a bit. It was a great experience. I wanted to use those live recordings up at camp as the framework for the album we were going to record in a big way later on, but some of the songs turned out so well, that I'm releasing them now. This is one of them. I think this song in particular really showed a lot of the strengths we had as a band in terms of arranging, being locked in together, the writing, and just the general feel and sound as a group. We had a really cool thing going on. Here's a little video our friend Josh put together from that weekend that I'm sort of fond of. You can hear "Leaving Cup" playing during part of it. 

Finally, the fact that my old friends Steffen Yazvac and Matt Whatley came onto this project to mix and master this song is a great joy for me. We all used to live in the same town. I've done many projects with both of them, but this is the first time we've done something all together and it feels so good. I find that as I get older, the most fruitful working relationships are ones which I've had for years that have had time to deepen and mature. 

Love you all. 

-John