Tragic Chemistry

Background Info*

"Anhedonia" is a medical term for a symptom of depression: the loss ability to experience joy. I thought the word sounded like an exotic foreign city, and started thinking about what it would be like to live there. I was envisioning masses of men and women in gray suits with their faces blurred out, always walking, but without a clear destination. As you might imagine, written at a time when I wasn’t at my happiest. The main verse guitar part has the high E droning throughout the progression, trying to make it monotonous but still interesting. The tempo should be kept slow and heavy; it should feel like it’s plodding to some degree. I want to try to track a drone vocal in the verses, with all of us speaking the lyrics in monotone. I also want to experiment with some sort of ethereal female vocal arrangement in the choruses, maybe stacking Leia’s vocals up to create a spooky effect. On bass, try to resist being too busy. Again the song is about being static, and hating it.

Technical Notes

The "vocal drone" from the verses was generated by tracking Aric Jorgenson, Greg Figg, Eric Montgomery, Scotty O’toole, and Nate Pauzenga spread throughout Studio B and captured through a single Neumann U-87. This was multi-tracked 3 times (on each take the members of "the crowd" moved to different locations in the room) and then combined to give the effect of a large, depressed mass.

The female vocal effect in the choruses was generated by having Manuel layer three harmony vocals, two of which were then doubled by Kristi Krings to yield the "vocal pad".

The fuzz tone guitar effect from the chorus was produced by double tracking Jorgenson performing the part, once with a Gibson Les Paul Custom Classic through a Fender Twin, and then with a Gibson Les Paul Standard through an old Marshall JCM 800 combo running through a Marshall 1960A cabinet. Both tracks were effected by an Electroharmonix Little Big Muff pedal.

Lyrics

they all look the same
faces without names
stumbling through the streets
of anhedonia
no one even knows
where they're trying to go
they don't even smile
walk another mile

i don't belong here
i try to leave here every day
how did i come here?
to the streets of anhedonia

the circus comes to town
it barely makes a sound
the jugglers play their games
the lions have been tamed
the people stop and stare
but don't seem to care
they can't even smile
just stand here for a while

my chin is on my hand
I won't try to stand
my eyelids start to fall
overwhelmed by the comedy of it all
in a maze
of unmarked streets and haze
i will never leave
anhedonia