Wednesday 6 May 2009

DAYS IN THE GALLOWS (OÅR 1996)



PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

This is so pre-historic to me! Although it was recorded in 1996, after the demise of Modryn, it feels as if this was done years earlier. Maybe because it was the first recordings where I didn't put my trust in another singer, and also had the idea to lay down more than just a song or three. I envisioned an album-like thing, and the recordings were in fact released to friends in a very small cassette edition.

I didn't have any effects to work with at the time, so the lion's share of the recordings sounds extremely dry. I think of this music as if it was cut out of an old tree. It was a time of trial and error; I was still learning the simple recording technique I had available, and I was looking for my own voice to sing with.

Half of the material I recorded for the original cassette album were sung in Swedish, and many of the lyrics were set in a decidedly Swedish environment, in a mythical past with similarities to the 19th century. The songs are populated by vagrants, werewolves, sailors and peasants, but there are instrumental tunes as well, reflecting my appreciation for the "baroque folk" style of the British acoustic guitarists I loved (and still love) so well.

The three final numbers on this compilation differ a bit from the rest of the album. "Crane Fly" is an outtake from the original sessions, previously released on the first volume of the website release "The Archive Series". The a capella cover of "Deeper Well" is another outtake from the same period, although with a heavy dose of reverb added. "Leif och Lilla Karin" was recorded for a second, unreleased cassette album, recorded straight to 2 track, with two microphones and an intentionally rough sound. I wanted to make the rawest acoustic recording ever made, and "Leif och Lilla Karin" does indeed sound like shit qualitywise! Near the end of the song, a guitar string breaks, and the song ends with me tearing off the string... The rest of the songs from these tormented sessions is of too personal a nature to warrant an official release.

"Days in the Gallows" is the soil where the seeds of the Peter Scion persona were sown. I don't think it should be compared to or seen as Scion's music, rather like a curious footnote or a missing piece of the puzzle. However, the song "Utgårda-Lars" occasionally made its way into latter days live shows.

By the way:
The name OÅR is a Swedish word meaning a year of bad growth and poor harvest. It's pronounced something like "ooh-awr".

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