The Freshman Experiment

Hey guys, it’s Brian. So we’re back in NYC after our week in state college, pa. I have big plans to simply not eat for the next 48 hours…too much junk food, kids. Anyway, can’t find the tape of the new fresh-x song i was going to upload. It’ll turn up, give me a few days. In the meantime, here’s a video of the opening number of Tales From The Bad Years out at PSU. Enjoy… xo, B

Hey guys, Brian here. It just occurred to me that I made y’all a present and never passed it out. Very silly. Anyway, happy spring: here’s the sheet music to My Heart Is Split and a matching scratch recording of Kait singing the tune. So go ahead, make FreshX a part of your next Spring Awakening audition…

or sing it and post a youtube video…

or just disregard this and return to your normal sunday afternoon schedule…

HOORAY CLICK HERE===>  My Heart Is Split Sheet Music

Writing “My Heart Is Split” has been a really bizarre process for us.  I mean, first off it’s the first time we’ve showed our process so publicly.  But beyond that this has been a really odd example to start with.   

We pride ourselves on being very flexible about who “goes first.”  (sometimes kait starts w/ a lyric, sometimes I start w/ a melody)  but generally no matter how we begin the process is always the same: someone starts – someone finishes.  if kait starts w a lyric, i set it and we’re done.  sometimes we have to repeat that several times over several sections of a song.  But rarely do we have as many “back and forth” passes as we have w/ this song. 

Because we’re usually on my couch.  My ugly, cardboard couch.  (you can get your own here: http://www.homereserve.com)  We sit there and eat thai food from Pam Real Thai or Yum Yum Bangkok (Pam has better Pad Ki Mao and YYB has better Pad Thai) or even calzones and chicken rolls from Fat Sals.  But there’s always food.  And we eat the food and fight about structure.  Is there a bridge, what does the bridge do.  Brian why do you want a double chorus, Kait why can’t you write lyrics to my prechorus, Brian why did you eat my fucking chicken roll. 

It’s hard to adjust to this format.  We’re trying very hard to make everything transparent, and to keep all of the information here,  but it means we don’t work on these songs in the same room as much and sometimes there are miscommunications.  Kait came over on Monday afternoon.  We ate grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup and soggy french fries.  And we fixed it. 

So here’s a recording of the full-length “My Heart Is Split,” the first finished song we’ve got so far.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is it’s me singing, so brace yourselves. Oh and also i just bought a MacBookPro.  It’s beautiful.  It’s going to teach us how to make better videos for you.  I love it.  It took a picture of me this morning: 

Clearly I’m 12 years old. 

hey it’s brian. so i wrote this thing while i was home for thanksgiving and didn’t have a chance to post it until now. i played it for kait at some point and she was pretty underwhemed – possibly for good reason. the lyrics aren’t great, and they depart a lot from what CC was talking about. but this is emotionally what spoke to me, and i think the music might be interesting. (sidebar: lots of time kait and i start out with a song that i write music and lyrics to and then she swoops in and redoes the lyric) So these may be dummy lyric, and i may also just start from scratch musically on something else. Particularly because while I was home for t-giving my sister and i listened to a lot of dashboard confessional. so in addition to a) being a song fragment and b) not very good, this is also potentially c) a little too much like a dashboard song. wow. yea. but i definitely think there’s something to be done w/ the phrase “How To Return Home.” And this is certainly something…

“I’m pulling my luggage into a house that is dirty and empty
A house that is just how I’d left it
Dirty and empty and silent.
A silence that’s gently humming in my ears.
And I’m waiting for you to come rush down the stairs.
I’m calling, I’m waiting, I’m watching the driveway.
Hoping that something is still the same.
I’m calling, I’m calling your name.

I guess I’m learning
How long I’ve been gone
I guess I’d forgotten
I miss these walls
Now I’m relearning everything
All about silence
And how to return home”

DEAR NEXTDOOR NEIGHBOR,
I’VE GOT SOME NEWS FOR YOU.
WHEN YOU HAVE SEX WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND ON SPEAKERPHONE,
YOU’RE NOT ALONE.
GET OUT OF MY COLLEGE EXPERIENCE.
I DIDN’T INVITE YOU.
GET OUT
I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO FIGHT YOUR LOUD, EARLY BIRD,
YOUR DRUNK, YOUR NERDY, HORNY ASS.
YOU WEREN’T PART OF THE COLLEGE BROCHURE
GET OUT.
GET OUT.
I’M SLAMMING THE DOOR.