Notes on MOVE OUT OF AMERICA
Six songs about lost friendships, fear of death and missed adventure as a result, not killing household pests, neolithic tombs and rollercoasters, and moving out of America.
Memory is a trick. Maybe you are replaying a humiliating moment from your recent professional life as you take your eight month old dog on a walk through a meadow that has been around for much longer than you have. Maybe you remember a party from young adulthood and it flashes photorealistic in your mind’s eye. Other moments splinter out from this image, you find yourself thinking of friends, months and decades gone unspoken. Some of these friends aren’t here anymore and some of these friends you don’t talk to anymore. But luckily there are people that shoot back into your life for the odd reconnection, the pile on of history and the current moment that takes up space in your body and reminds you who you are.
My sister once told me that she read a book about how it’s possible to time travel through your memories, and when I moved out of America I noticed myself going back more and more. My wife and I would be hiking through endless valleys and I would be thinking about losing a rap battle when I was 17 to a guy that works in an Apple store now. I have since made an attempt to ‘stay more present’ but the pull of memory, the seductive fusion of nostalgia, pain and joy remains.
This new EP, “MOVE OUT OF AMERICA” is chiefly about memory and solitude. In 2018, I moved out of my apartment in Philadelphia to go on a more or less endless tour, spending whatever time I wasn’t on tour in Ireland with my now-wife. It was, in so many ways, a massive new chapter for me and I spent so much time reflecting on the events that led me to this beautiful shift in my life. Some songs on my last record (Silver Dreams Don’t Move Me) came out of these moments of reflection, but MOVE OUT OF AMERICA attempts to catalog the split between what came before and what was happening in the moments I was trying to adjust to my new life in a different place.
-PUTTING ON THE ARDOR is about remembering a basement show I played with my high school post-hardcore band in Baltimore. The clear image of someone wrapping duct tape around a friend’s mouth and kissing the tape was where this started and at least fifty band names, friends and experiences came to mind as I word associated my way through my early years in music, all while my wife was at work. When she came home this song was written and I called a few friends that night.
-CALIFORNIA FREEDOM FIGHTER is an exploration of the idea that risk is a crucial part of the fun-having experience. I met a man from California at a coffee shop in Ireland. We initially connected over a shared love of Slayer and Jerry Garcia but it was quickly apparent that we didn’t have much else in common. I am notoriously risk-averse when it comes to physical activity and this man was telling me all about his experiences base-jumping, surfing massive waves, cliff diving. He told me ‘sure you might break a bone, but you won’t die. And if you do….’ shrugging. We started the conversation on common ground but ended up worlds apart. The subsequently written song was an attempt for me to reckon with this kind of guy, like many I have known through my life.
-I wrote SPIDER SONG during lockdown looking outward, at the horrors of the world breaking down as a result of man-made oblivion. Chanele and I were living together and I was made aware of the many different types of spiders that live out in rural Ireland. When humans are acting out of deeper desperation and every new scientific discovery involves how much plastic is in your body at any given moment, sometimes all you can do is make friends with the spider that lives in your house and wash your jeans in the tub.
-HOLY WATER (PART TWO) is a sequel song to a Lithuania jam from WHITE REINDEER. In the original song, my dear friend Eric talks about how hard it is to be alone. I wrote this song on a Lucy tour: it was a sprint around Europe in a bus that was packed to the gills. We had two days off in Hamburg and I got a cheap hotel room in the St. Pauli neighborhood, desperately needing some time to myself. The minute I got in the room I wrote this song. When we were making the record we tried to re-record “Holy Water” but couldn’t get the feeling right. Eventually I played everyone my OG demo and we all agreed this was the take. So, this recording is the just written song.
-NEWGRANGE/TAYTO PARK is about one of the first times I ever came to Ireland. Chanele took me to an amusement park that is (no longer) named after the famous potato crisp company and then to an ancient neolithic tomb. This song is about going on a big roller coaster and also going inside a tomb from 3200 BC. Just a very nice day with someone I love very much.
-The last song, MOVE OUT OF AMERICA is about one of my friends I thought of while writing/remembering my way through PUTTING ON THE ARDOR. I wanted to call him and talk about how I’d like them to come see me in Ireland. This is how I imagined the conversation would go. The loss of friendship as one gets older is a very real thing, especially in this age of isolation.
The straddling of two worlds is evident even in the recording process. For this group of songs (and my forthcoming LP GOD LOVES A SCAMMER) I returned to Kawari Sound in Philadelphia, a place I have been making records since 2013. I think this is a very strong and special group of tunes, the perfect preface to the album that is to come.
Listen to the record here.
Credits:
-Recorded and Mixed at Kawari Sound by Zach Goldstein
-"Holy Water (Part Two)" Recorded at Boardinghouse St. Pauli, Hamburg DE by DA
-Produced by Dominic Angelella
-Mastered by Ryan Schwabe
-Album design by Madeline Barnhard
Putting On The Ardor:
Dominic Angelella - Guitars, CP-70, Vocals
Steve Montenegro - Bass, Guitar
Joe Baldacci - Drums
California Freedom Fighter:
Dominic Angelella - Guitars, Vocals
Alex Luquet - Bass
Steve Montenegro - Drums
Spider Song:
Dominic Angelella - Electric/Acoustic Guitars, Vocals
Alex Luquet - Bass
Steve Montenegro - Drums
Brendan Mulvihill - Guitar
Holy Water Pt 2
Dominic Angelella - Guitar, Vocals
Newgrange/Tayto Park
Dominic Angelella - Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Piano, Drums, Synths
Move Out Of America
Dominic Angelella - OP-1, Granular Synth, Bass Synth, Acoustics, Vocals