Track 06
Gray April Day
Video coming soon · check back for the official track video
Winter view from my Columbia, Maryland home.
Its Place in the Story
Winter view from my Columbia, Maryland home.
If “My Evil Twin” lives between bargaining and denial in Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ stages of grief, “Gray April Day” lands in the somber stage that follows: depression. The song describes the inner attempt, after a sudden shock, to slow things down and make sense of what had happened:
Go slow time,
I’ve fallen way behind,
Things are moving way too
Fast for me.
Go slow time,
I need a quiet place:
I just don’t understand,
It slipped right through my hands.
Nick Drake provided the soundtrack of that time to mix with my own, especially “The Time of No Reply:”
The sun went down and the crowd went home
I was left by the roadside all alone
I turned to speak as they went by,
But this was the time of no reply.
The time of no reply, indeed.
When I first heard this song sitting in my Miami garden, my new romance still in full bloom, I began to sob. It was the saddest song I’d ever heard, especially in contrast with my own happiness. Little did I know how profoundly familiar it would become.
In the time of no reply, feverish composition doesn’t begin to fill the silence.
Go slow time,
I’ve fallen way behind,
Things are moving way too
Fast for me.
Go slow time,
I need a quiet place:
I just don’t understand,
It slipped right through my hands.
Nick Drake provided the soundtrack of that time to mix with my own, especially “The Time of No Reply.”
When I first heard this song sitting in my Miami garden, my new romance still in full bloom, I burst into tears. It was the saddest song I’d ever heard. Little did I know how profoundly familiar it would become.
The time of no reply indeed. Feverish guitar playing and composition couldn’t begin to fill the silence.
we had arrived · we were safe
The exhilaration of “Boyfriend” had not yet faded, but the uncertainty had. We had arrived. We were safe.
I also borrowed a little from Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”: “Had we but world enough and time.” Indeed, for a moment, it seemed like we had all the world and time one could ask for.
A Few Words
This track was arranged and largely performed by Bill Williams, my friend and partner in The Invoices, the band I played in during the ’90s. I played the song for Bill sometime in the summer of 2022, and he kindly asked me to send it to him, presumably to see what he might be able to build around it. He asked me how I heard it and I told him–that it wanted a rainy day Latin feel. He took it from there. You can hear the acoustic demo I sent him below.
I had forgotten I’d shared the song with Bill until months later, when — for one reason or another — I went through my spam folder and found his arrangement sitting there. What a stroke of luck. It remains a reminder to go back and check every now and then.
Since I was still a year away from beginning to learn Logic Pro, “Gray April Day” existed for a time much like “The Other Side of Winter”: me playing Bill’s arrangement on a Bluetooth speaker while I sang along and recorded both together on my phone. Hearing this beautiful arrangement of my simple acoustic demo left me wanting more — and helped lead directly to my decision to teach myself Logic Pro.
Over a year later, as the album was taking shape, Bill sent me the individual tracks, which I brought into Logic Pro. I added my vocal, some violins in the middle section, did a bit of processing, and voilà: track done.
Listening to my acoustic demo now, I’m still not sure how Bill heard the arrangement he heard. I had words, chords, a melody, and a feeling — but not much else that made the song congeal. Even now, after everything I’ve learned in Logic Pro — and with all the tools available to me — I’ve tried imagining other ways to build the song and still can’t quite make it work.
Somehow, Bill did.
I’m deeply grateful for what he brought to it.
My Miami garden, where I first heard The Time of No Reply.
The Vault
Demos · Alternate Takes · Behind the Curtain
The original acoustic version as I shared it with Bill Williams
Early Demo
The original acoustic version as I shared it with Bill Williams
This instrumental version highlights Riccardo Mazzaglia’s playing. Getting my vocal to fit was a challenge.
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My Evil Twin
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Nightmare on Franklin Street