Anna Su: Howling Tree

As some of you may know, I have been working for a number of months producing a friend's first album.  Anna Su is a gifted songwriter and singer with a truly unique ability to bring people together around her music.  Her music has been described as "gypsy folk", but it's really just music that brings together all the things she loves—travel, love, and community.

I had the pleasure of working with Anna to bring her music to life through recordings.  We worked in a number of different locations and on different formats, from overdubbing piano parts at my house to recording live to tape at a friend's house.  The result is something we are proud of, and we sincerely hope you enjoy it.

 The album will be released 10/10/10 in physical form, but you can preview it online (and purchase it digitally) here.  One of the tracks, "Return to Me" is available as a free download for a limited time.  Please let us know what you think!

Also, there are some pictures of the recording sessions here and here.  

Thank you all for your support over the past 8 months.  We so appreciate all who encouraged us to pursue this project.  Feel free to comment here with your thoughts, or send us an e-mail.

Lyrics to "Monsters"

See the monsters tall
Holding that crystal ball
Letting their hair go grey
Just like my love for you

And see the smokestacks rise
The white clouds in the skies
Colliding sheets of air
Shaped like my love for you

Those nightmare winds that blew you 'round for years
They can't touch you here
Call it fate, call it what ever you please
Just stay right here with me

I bought up all your cars
Put all their keys in jars
Then paid off all your loans
Just to show my love for you

I threw your pictures out
Left you no room for doubt
Then filled my notebooks up
With all my love for you

Upcoming Long Beach Gig

Hello Friends,

I am pleased to announce that I will be appearing with Kris Karlsson at Viento y Agua Coffeehouse in Long Beach this coming Thursday, September 9th.  Kris and I will be performing old and new material that we are excited to share with you all.  Here are the details:

Nate Vaughan and Kris Karlsson
September 9th, 2010
Viento y Agua Coffeehouse
4007 E 4th St
Long Beach, CA
8:00 PM (Free)

http://www.vientoyaguacoffeehouse.com/

We would love to see you there!

Secret Moustache Videos

Back in April of this year, Anna Su, Rachel Vaughan and I got together to record videos of some of the songs we had written in recent months.  Will Gramling even dropped by to play some pump organ.  You can check out the complete set by following this link.  In the mean time, here is a video for your viewing pleasure:



Old Fashioned Remedy from Secret Moustache on Vimeo.

Recent Photos / Making Records

Over the past few months, I have been helping Anna Su produce an EP.  While working on the recordings, we have had many of our friends stop by to help us out.  Among them, Kris Karlsson, George Krikes, and Rachel Vaughan.  Here are a few photos from recent weeks...

My Neighborhood in Black and White

Recently, I acquired a Canonet 17...a nice little consumer camera from the 1970's with a great lens on the front.  Upon receiving it, I slapped a dark yellow filter on it (for outdoor contrast) and shot a roll in my neighborhood.  Kinda makes my neighborhood look more exciting than it actually is!

Oh yeah then I shot my roommate:

Fun with Double Exposures

The other day Rach and I went out to shoot a roll of film.  We double exposed the roll by first shooting various colored things: a red shirt, Rach's dress, the inside of a plastic yellow cup, the textured grey seat of my car...  Then we walked around Third St. and shot the roll again.  Here's what resulted:

These were all shot Fujicolor 200... the cheapest stuff money can buy, and perfect for experimentation.  It also lends the shots a pleasing graininess.  Unfortunately (or fortunately...you decide), we didn't quite get the frame alignment right, so many of the photos came out with mixed framing.  Here are some interesting ones: