ROMANTIC DISTANCE
released February 12, 2018
ALBUM 13, RELEASE 35
My 2nd album of 2018. I think this was the one that made me decide to do an album a month that year. I think this was the first HW album made entirely on a computer, but instead of an interface and MIDI keyboard, I used Mixcraft's Musical Typing and a 1/4" to USB cable that was extremely loud. It's part of why I'm so negative about a lot of my 2018 output: besides being rushed, a lot of it just sounds truly awful. This album isn't the worst offender in that department, but it's not exactly Spiderland either. Anyway, there are songs on this album. "The Benefits of Eating Alone" was about not having plans for my birthday because all of my friends had class on Tuesday nights. "Lovesick Cure" is back, and it sounds like the demo but a little faster and tighter. "Hermit Song" has some cool sounds in it but it doesn't feel like much of a song. "Eagle Hook" was written about the Philadelphia Eagles winning Super Bowl 57. It would probably hold up pretty well as an anthem if it wasn't so incredibly sloppy. If I ever feel the urge to re-record more old songs again (Gives Up Volume Two?) I would consider giving this one a few fresh coats of paint. I like some of my vocal delivery in "Silver Minded Soul". The line "into little blue specks of light" still does it for me. "Romantic Distance" has some excellent guitar and bass tones. The lyrics are about coming to grips with being aromantic (lack of romantic attraction). Ironically, I did try dating again later in 2018, but that's not relevant yet. I will say that, after that relationship ended, I concluded that I was aro after all, and have not dated at all since. Much like how "Philadelphia" opens with a voicemail of unknown origin, "Romantic Distance" ends with one. That's because this here title track was planned to be the album closer, and the voicemails would bookend the album. "She's At The Parade" was my favorite song on the album when I made it. I was listening to a lot of Ween and "Mutilated Lips" in particular had really grabbed me, so I kept trying to write my own version of that. By the end of the semester I'd burned out hard on Ween (and their terrible fans) so...cool. "Seedstepping" started as maybe 50 seconds of messing around in drop D. The rest of the song is in standard. I forget exactly why I didn't develop the song further in its original tuning. Maybe I'd tried playing the riff in E and liked it more...it's probably that. I still like this one. I believe "Fog" was built on top of some guitar overdubs from an outtake called "Night Parade" (see my post on Lovesick Cure for more info) that I'd slowed down to be "song-length" or something. It's not very good. I think I expected to like this album less than I did. It's not a classic, but there wasn't anything that made me feel truly embarrassed. This album also holds the odd distinction of being the only HW album released in February.