ENJOY THE SILENCE - the finished recording & the whole story. (Patreon)

HELLO LOVES....

the finished, mastered recording of my "enjoy the silence" (depeche mode) cover is DONE .

you can play it from this patron-only post, or here's a private soundcloud link to download the track:

https://soundcloud.com/amandapalmer/enjoy-the-silence/s-fODnwjuLdmT

if you missed the story, it was a product of a webcast, a spontaneous vote, and then two long days of work, which i did live while patrons watched, weighed in, and interacted. (all those webcast links - about 10+ hours - are archived and below).

the track is currently PATRON-ONLY (and as usual, i'm not going to be picky about you sharing with friends) but that'll change at some point. i'm excited to do a few more of these vote-covers (stay tuned fore webcast times!)...and maybe we'll release them all as a collection (?), or maybe we'll just give this track a moment to breathe and then i'll stick it up on bandcamp when i have a the bandwidth to talk about it /promote on the internet. (right now, i can barely scrape together the time to send this post out, i'm solo with ash).

for now...enjoy "enjoy the silence".

tell me what you think in the comments. i'd love to know how it made you feel, and if you have your own history with the song and depeche mode...and all that.

i'm reading every single comment. i'll respond as i can, this week is hairy.

......

my feelings about depeche mode run deep. 

i became a fan when i was 13 - with "music for the masses" - and started collecting the back catalog....and then in 1989, "violator" came out. 

oh my god. this record was a really important, emotional and formative album for me (along with the cure's "disintegration", which came out right around the same time).

i listened to this goddamn album at least 500 times between the ages of 14 and 17. every word, every sound, every note. back of hand. the album shaped me as a musician. as a singer. as a writer. so when this song was top-voted...oh god, i was thrilled. i really wanted it to win. 

and i don't think i've taken this much pleasure it doing a cover in my life. it was like the most nourishing comfort food, since this music - these words, those notes -  runs so deep in my old blood.

i didn't need to think about how to cover it. my blood led me.

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before you listen....an ask, from the artist (that's me):

please listen with headphones, in a quiet moment.

the song is about 7 minutes long. 

give me seven minutes of your life. it isn't meant to be background music, it's the most "active listening" song i think i've ever released. it demands that you just.....sit and listen.

and you'll only be able to hear it for the first time ONCE. and especially if you know the original, there are surprises. so please....LISTEN. run a bath. pour a wine. make a tea. turn the lights off. lie in bed. 

let me sing to you.

and seriously, that $29,000 microphone (or however much it cost) really does do the goddmamn job. holy shit, it sounds good.

.............

as i posted here, weeping, jherek bischoff came on board as a last-minute collaborator to master the track and add some low strings.

i do not take for granted that jherek was able to do it. he could have been traveling in europe or on a deadline for an opera. but he was in LA, and free, and said sure. so, bam. it exists like this. your patronage paid for his time and skill.

his work is just phenomenal as usual. 

you'll hear.

neil gaiman also came is as a special guest vocalist....it'll be pretty obvious where.

full disclosure: i didn't pay neil gaiman. we'll work something out.

:)

..............

y'all.

i fucking loved doing this project. i loved this process.

i LOVED it.

as you know if you've been following my life story...it has been hard to focus. it has been hard to plan ANYTHING. 

i have been living with a level of life-unpredictability at every level.

i don't know if and when i can tour and do shows, because covid. i don't know if and when i can get into a recording studio, because covid. and i don't know whether or not, on any given month, i am going to be a solo parent of not, because neil gaiman's work schedule and need to be in the UK...and covid.

this has done my head in, a little bit, as an artist. 

i have found it really hard to work on anything.

but THIS, this worked. it WORKED.

i know me, now.

i'm REALLY GOOD with a spontaneous project that erupts from a chatty webcast, and i am REALLY GOOD with an immediate deadline and an art-gun to my head. and i love working in a room full of people and just going first thought best thought first thought best thought don't overthink this amanda just make something because that is ... how i like to work, especially when i don't have any predictability with how next week is gonna go, not to mention next month.

and when i create the conditions to work like this, i can make magic, and really good music.

your patronage allows to create these conditions.

there is no way that i could have done a project like this "in the old days" of being on a major label. these conditions simply DID NOT EXIST.

in the old days, if i'd wanted to spend two days webcasting in a recording studio to make a voted-upon spontaneous cover song to release days later to the internet, it would have cost $10k and earned nothing. nowadays it can cost $10k and also earn $10k, because you're all paying for it.

it's still fucking incredible to me, that i can do work like this, that i love and enjoy, and get paid.

i think i was happier during those two days of non-stop work in the studio than i have been in many months. i have you all to thank for showing up and cheerleading me.

i have a lot and should and probably will say about spotify, neil young, joni mitchell, and the current state of play in the world between artists, companies and audience.

suffice to say:

WE ARE DOING THIS RIGHT.

stay tuned. there is a lot more to explore, and we are on the vangaurd, y'all and me.

you make it work. you make this possible.

you do.

thank you, thank you, thank you all.

......................

THE MEDIA!!!

you can rewatch the entirety of the webcast/recording extravaganza, everything is archived for the patrons forever:

DAY 1 - the conversation, the vote on the song, & arranging "enjoy the silence" before your very eyes:

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/sj9glppm

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DAY 2 - getting nerdy! recording the piano and vocals....

crowdcast.io/e/eaywgp19

teaching neil about crowdcast....

special bonus appearance by kiwi indie songstress reb fountain!!!....we did a little song of HERS together, surprise....

.......

DAY 2, PART 2 - bonus cast!!!! mixing the song. this is a really nerdy one, but you get to see me at my most humorless, tired, and focused. the part where i come up with the additional vocals is one of those moments where i'm like...amanda, you know what? you're actually good at this job:

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/and----bonus-cast---the

oh, amanda.

you're tired.

......

here are some photos....some of which i've posted already, but here they all are.

Day 1....

i heart my engineer, steven marr:

he and hugh, the streaming guru, had their own fan clubs by the end. :)

Day 2....

this is matt, the studio assistant

GOWN.

......

A little word from Jherek Bischoff....

Ahoy, AFP Patrons!

I'm always so thrilled when Amanda asks me to work on music with her. I wanted to share a few words about my additions to Amanda's beautiful cover. 

When Amanda sent me this tune to master, she told me to add anything if I felt inspired. It's difficult for me to listen to ANY music and not hear my own melodies or arrangements happening. After listening to this tune, I knew exactly what I thought it needed. 

It's funny because Amanda and I have worked together so much that I feel there is a total trust that we see eye to eye. It can be tricky with a song like this, as I tend to like arrangements that are pretty up in your face. Trying to do something more subtle is always a challenge for me. Thankfully, the quick turnaround on this song helped with that challenge since I didn't have time to write an arrangement and hire players, etc., so I added bits I recorded myself.

My experience with arranging and orchestral music actually started with me writing for each instrument, playing each one myself, and layering them to sound like a big (and very strange) orchestra. Over the years, I've been very lucky to acquire a bunch of different instruments from generous friends looking for new homes for an instrument they don't use anymore. My friends know that I will play the heck out of any instrument they put in my hands. Not necessarily very well, or complicated melodies or anything, but I have gotten pretty good at textural playing from my years of playing upright bass in strange experimental theater projects. Things like, "this moth is giving birth to a praying mantis, but the praying mantis is having a dream that it's flying over Manhattan...make the sound of that with your bass." 

Really. 

I reached a point where my arranging skills developed much more than my proficiency in these instruments. I realized my lack of playing skill was holding back my development as an arranger/composer because I couldn't play the ideas I heard in my head. I kept having to simplify my ideas. So, I started hiring professional musicians, and that's when it got super fun - they could just sight read all of the wild arrangements I could hear in my head. Imagine that!

There are still projects that I tackle on my own - especially with the textural thing. Sometimes there are musical ideas that you just can't put into words or musical notation—for instance, wanting violin arpeggios to start slow and get quicker over a specific amount of time while swelling in and out, like the sound of sunlight hitting a diamond and the reflected light is dancing around the room. 

I got to have fun with this piece and added violin, cello, bass, and some synth textures. So much of Amanda's music is so lyrically driven that arranging it is like soundtracking a film: you just try to help tell the story.

I love you, Amanda! 

Thank you for trusting me, bringing me along for the ride, and for sharing your incredible community. 

I hope you all enjoy it!

XO
Jherek

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Here are some photos of Jherek doing the recording...in his pajamas.

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WE LOVE YOU. JHEREK. you're incredible.

when i cross-posted my weeping post about listening to jherek's work on facebook the other day, this photographer (Lindsey Sheetz) sent through this photo of us together on stage that i'd never seen before, and this photo speaks a million words. love, love and love.

and a reminder that jherek HAS HIS OWN PATREON, with about 300 supporters. 

and if you love him and love his work....put your money where your ears and heart are and become one of his patrons, even just for a few dollars a month. it'd mean the world to him (and me).

.......

CREDITS.

ENJOY THE SILENCE.

Written by Martin Lee Gore.
Original version by Depeche Mode, released on the album Violator (1989).

Vocals & Piano: Amanda Palmer

Violin, Cello, Bass, Synth: Jherek Bischoff

Piano and vocals engineered and mixed by Steven Marr at Roundhead Studios, Auckland, Aotearoa (NZ) on Jan 26th, 2022.

Studio Assistant: Matt Gunn

Roundhead Studio Assistant, Day 1: Alexa Casino.

Strings, bass and synths mixed by Jherek Bischoff. Mastered by Jherek Bischoff at Sweethaven, Los Angeles, CA (USA).

Cover art photography: Amanda Palmer on her goddman iphone with an instagram filter (inkwell).

Project and artist management: Jordan Verzar

Amanda Palmer Assistant: Michael McComiskey

Patreon post master: Alex Knight

.............

LOVE.

xxx

AFP

------THE NEVER-ENDING AS ALWAYS---------

1. if you are a patron and new to my work, don’t forget your patronage allows you access to ALL of my patreon releases to date. HERE is the link to download my latest big solo record, “There Will Be No Intermission”, and HERE is a link to download the PDF of the art/essay book that goes with it.

2. if you’re a patron reading this post via an email notification, please click through to comment on this post. at the very least, if you’ve read it, indicate that by using the heart symbol. that's always nice for me to see, so i know who's reading.

3. see All the Things (over 150 of them) i've made so far on patreon:

http://amandapalmer.net/things

4. JOIN THE SHADOWBOX COMMUNITY FORUM, find your people, and discuss everything: https://forum.theshadowbox.net/

5. new to my music and TOTALLY OVERWHELMED? TAKE A WALK THROUGH AMANDALANDA….we made a basic list of my greatest hits n stuff (at least up until a few years ago, this desperately needs updating) on this lovely page: http://amandalanda.amandapalmer.net/

6. general AFP/patreon-related questions? ask away, someone will answer: patronhelp@amandapalmer.net