We Don't Have To Mean It

Recorded 2006 to 2011 in Richmond and throughout Rockingham County, Virginia

composed, produced, edited and mixed by Frederic Doree and Dan Easley via online collaboration
lyrics by Dan Easley

frederic used a very old version of fruity loops. dan used many software synthesizers - mostly open source linux synths - and the following real instruments: the hammond organ was a 1965 m101. the electric guitars: a nice 80s ibanez les paul clone, a cheap early 80s aria strat clone, and a cheap danelectro dc59 reissue. the lap steel a cheap chinese model; the chapman stick was a 1974 10-string. the alto saxophone a 1928 buescher, the soprano recorder a plastic yamaha; mandolin, a 2008 eastman a-model, fiddle a cheap chinese one, the banjo was a kevin enoch fretless 'tradesman' model, and the autoharp an oscar schmidt from the 70s. the wonderful linux looping application freewheeling was used for parts of life and wonderworld.

notes from dan:

i think we set out from the beginning to make a sequel to "lousy like our mood", which was an attempt to craft some unhappy pop songs. whereas "speak of the devil" was an entirely different path - long abstractions, inside jokes, jarring things, almost a pastiche of some great sophomore records by other folks - "we don't have to mean it" was to be another collection of pop songs - this time, happy ones.

we wanted it to be very happy indeed - somewhat often shiny and always somewhat innocuous. a complete absence of cynicism, all heartwarming and fond. we knew that we would fail miserably at this.

this record took a very short time to make, and a very long time to make. frederic and i must have been consumed by other passions, obligations; really an assortment of -ions. at any rate, much of the project was composed, performed, and recorded consistently throughout 2006, immediately following completion of our second collection - we got many of the initial loops and keyboard parts down then, with some vocals that survived the years and some scratched and done again in 2010.

additional work - mostly acoustic instruments - a brand new thing for the kindly ones - then subsequent reworking of the loops - was done in the summer of 2007, bringing the record up to about thirty minutes, with a bit of polishing yet still required. my professional work in broadcasting and immersion in old-time fiddle and banjo music then pulled me away for awhile; frederic, too, was kept busy, by his work, and then by freshly begun graduate studies.

serious effort toward the record resumed in the autumn of 2009, with frederic adding more percussion and effects and tweaking the overall mixes, while i recorded many new electric guitar and vocal parts. with spring we were pulled away again for a time; we got back to it to wrap things up in December of 2010, and then to wrap things up again March of 2011.

the record was much delayed by the mundanity of life. there were aesthetic difficulties, as well: i suspect some of the trouble began by beginning the record with such a specific idea in mind - though it was an interesting and informative pursuit. i think we were correct in expecting our failure to be a good one - at least, it feels satisfying to have finished it and to recognize in it similarities to what played in our heads. still, it felt like a bit of a failure while we were making it - a sensation which always adds an interesting twist to any creative endeavor or workflow.

and so, after a few years spent in diversion and reflection, we finished the work. and started in on the next one.