Come To Where I’m From
Originally, the demo was called “Only a Part, Not Whole”. Working titles are important to me because they give me an implicit structure or direction. I feel like it all happened one night when Mat came to record vocals at home in 2020. The demo was advanced, but Mat really enjoyed the groove and the dramatic chord sequence. So I worked on different arrangements to structure the idea. I knew the intro had to be special. I had the idea of recovering an ambient recording that a woman, to whom I am infinitely attached, had created one evening. The night Mat showed up to record his ideas, there was this mysterious “thing” that happens when all the elements fall into place. Mat and I often had this little routine before a session of writing and recording… He arrives, we open a beer, a second, a Slam Bam drink and we talk about our lives and suddenly, Mat becomes nervous and asks “Are we starting this? “.
Mat hadn’t heard of the last version I had worked on. I remember pressing the record button and he got into that zone, where he said whatever came to mind and without holding back. The theme of the album is found in the first words he expresses. For the whole song, what we hear is 2 or 3 takes of Mat from that evening. I remember our faces at the end of that session, that “woah”!!! I remember he was improvising words. The lyrics were not finished. He insisted on changing some words, but I insisted on
keeping all the phrases he used, because the vibe was there. Afterwards, everything fell into place like a puzzle. Mat arrives one evening and says, “I have an idea for a piano for the intro”. He sings the melody and in seconds it was done. The biggest challenge was for the drum. I had recorded a very square drum loop that gave direction, but it lacked that human feel. During a drum recording session with Gautier Marinoff, Pierre accomplished the magic that had to happen. Thanks to Gautier for clearly identifying the groove it took and explaining it to Pierre-Marc. 30 minutes later the track was done.
Frank came to add the edge to the guitars that was missing.
I am deeply attached to this song. For one, because of the intro, it’s honest, spontaneous, and Mat delivers an incredible performance.
Next, Exhaling…
