mutual benefit at muthership 10/26

Nite Bike + Exit

Our friends and neighbors over at muthership (a super sweet house venue in jamaica plain, ma) asked us to open for The Finches last month and someone at the house happened to record our set.

While I almost never play acoustic or solo sets, our drummer ended up too sick to be able to play so I scrambled to put together a set last minute and decided out of necessity to include the audience as well.  I showed up with my lucky three string guitar and a bag full of sound making toys for everyone to play.

It was definitely still a trainwreck but it ended up being really fun for everyone.  I’d like to think of more ways to engage the audience when our sets are electrified and loud as well.  Shane of QUILT was there doing his solo project, Many People’s Band, and ended up rocking the recorder pretty hard in these songs.

Thanks to Jimmy from head underwater for introducing everyone to Auburn Epitaphs and Pierre for crawling into my brain and relaying what it all means (his description is spot on). 

If you’re curious about the Chinese sample mentioned below here it is.  I’ve been really obsessed with the gramophone era of Chinese pop music.  It can be very ethereal. 

Lastly two of my favorite baby gangsters share-a-tories and birthdays added some  sounds to the song and helped me write it. 

If you’re ever in Boston you should check out the song’s namesake, Auburn Cemetery.  It’s serene and beautiful and not in a gothy picnic kind of way.

pierreism:

headunderwater:

Mutual Benefit - Auburn Epitaphs

Sampling a Chinese song by the name of “Fishing Village Girl” released long ago Jordan and Andrew have crafted a song that has given me chills down my spine and into my chilly toes. Like a long walk thru a forest along the train tracks watching the fallen leaves swirl around your hiking buddy.

I’m so pleased I can finally share this, I’ve been like a kid in grammar school that knows a big secret but can’t tell anyone. Jordan was kind enough to give me a sneak peak last week of his new track for a split cassette he’s doing with Philip Seymour Hoffman [not the actor] where their combining their respected EPs. You can pick up two singles off this 32-minute cassette from Kassette Klub’s bandcamp right now. [photo]

Mutual Benefit’s search for meaning in memorialisation illustrates the dilemma of a writer in the midst of creative process; Can words ever do justice to a memory? How do you create something that will stay relevant forever? An appropriately Autumnal study of ephemerality, a rumination on songwriting cleverly couched inside a song. Nothing short of sublime.