Deadwing Listening notes:

I've made a few comments on my favorite moments from this album. Ideally, buy the album from the store. Bring it home, clear an hour or more to dedicate to a musical journey. Prepare a good drink, find a cozy place to sit and dwell between your stereo speakers. It helps if you can listen to this album on a high end stereo that is capable of accurately reproducing dynamic range and has an excelent frequency response. Stephen Wilson is known for his prowess in the studio and crafts albums that are pure ear candy. Turn it up, kick back, and enjoy the ride that is to come.

Shallow: This song is built around a tough, in your face guitar riff. The pre-chorus sections shimmer with accoustic guitar and piano, giving way again to the crushing riffing of Stephen Wilson.

Lazarus: It's interesting to hear the range of emotion Wilson is capable of evoking. Lazarus lulls you with a swirling piano line and lush vocal harmonies. Seconds before, we were being pummelled by "Shallow"... if "Shallow" is the school yard bully kicking your ass, "Lazarus" is the sound of your mother tending to your wounds.

Halo: He doesnt' just make pretty music - he has something to say: Stephen Wilson is not a fan of the way religion is used to manipulate people through the ages, and this song makes no secret of it. Message and music are equally compelling... "You can be right like me, with God in the hole, you're a righteous soul - I got a halo round me"

Arriving Somewhere but Not Here: Wilson admits to being his most creative when depressed... and few are so gifted as to make melancholy so breathtakingly gorgeous. He takes us on a journey of greiving: opening up the track, Wilson takes time to create an ambiance. Throughout the song, we hear the lamentation, beautifuly harmonized: "All of my designs, simplified. All of my plans, Comprimised. All of my dreams, Sacrificed."

At the 7:00 mark, we experience one of the stages of greiving: Anger. Drums, bass, and guitar rage away. The churning, angry palm muting gives way to motion - ascending guitar lines move up and down, settling into another spot where they will sit and fester for a few moments... at 8:17, the guitars remain ponderously stuck while the bass guitar begins to stir, flirting with dissonance, moving upward in the register, conveying a sense of distress. As we approach the 8:40 mark, The bass guitar's frustrated 2 note cry for help comes center stage, the band builds into a glorious crescendo, and the bubble bursts at 8:41. We find ourselves in a bittersweet space where wilson's lower-register guitar solo weeps with us in milky, soulful tones. Soon enough the song returns to the previous status quo, fading out in the same sense of concerned contemplation that much of the song found us in earlier.

Open Car: Have you ever been in a complicated love affair? Stephen Wilson has. I don't think I've ever heard someone milk so much despair out of a droped D power chord - Wilson's vocals tragically soar over the descent to the devastating low D chord, as he sings "Hair blown in an open car, summer dress slips down her arm" at 2:32

Glass Arm Shattering: I love how this album is sequenced. The last 2 tracks, Open Car, and The Start of Something Beautiful, are the catharsis of a young man whose love went awry. Just as the Lazarus soothed the ass-whooping of "Shallow", "Glass Arm" is a gorgeos peice of music that makes everything okay. The lyrics are rather arcane, but the music is soothing and beautiful. At this point in the evening, I hope you are in a cozy place, with the lights low, your feet propped up, and ready to doze off to sleep as Wilson and company soothe your ears, heart, and soul with lush harmonies and delicate keyboard and guitar stylings. The piano part entering at 5:20 seems to say, "there, there, everything is going to be alright."