The Day After Chill

Music by David Fowler

Arranged and performed by Echo Movement

Behind the Song
Sometimes good ideas come at inconvenient times. I was driving, and had to take out a few cars to get into the next parking lot, a Game Stop. I recorded the main melody of The Day After Chill it into an old cell phone. Oddly enough, the panic and mayhem on the road resulted in a sweet little tune about chillin' out.

Lyrically, the song is about the time we spend as a band on the road. We have off some days, so we most-often check into a campground in the backwoods of who-knows-where. We don't know anybody for hundreds of miles. Since the shows are often chaotic and loud environments, we welcome the solitude.

The true soul of this song is in the recording. It was recorded live in Jay Alders' living room while he was painting the album cover in the next room (his studio at the time). We moved a ton of our studio gear a few miles down the road to his house, and invited a few friends and girlfriends over for the recording. It took a few takes, but what's on the album is the actual recording from that room.
Cool Facts
Instruments in the room - singing (Steve & Dave), ukulele (Dave), bass (Dan), guitar (Ed), flute (Matty Peks), congas/bongos/percussion (Colin), shakers (Steve), sand blocks (Rob).

"You keep on knocking but you can't come in" is a lyric borrowed from Keep On Knockin, a tune written by Perry Bradford and made popular by Little Richard. Other melodies, and the song on a whole, were largely inspired by The Young Rascals' Groovin'.

The title The Day After Chill is a little play on words. It was originally inspired by The Morning-After Pill, which is kind of a "chill pill" after a night of uninsured excitement...much akin to the thrills we get when we play a killer show. We don't pop pills, so our chill is the herb.

Key Phrase
"Nowhere I need to go." Alternately, "Know where I need to go."

Music and Lyrics (chords over lyrics)
F Gm
Chillin
Ain't got no place to go
Ain't got no one I know
I'm just chillin
Illin
Nowhere I need to go
Waiting for the next day's show
I'm just chillin

I hear the phone ringing, really don't care
I know the noise you're bringing, leave it out there
Am Bb C C+
I really don't give a damn when I hear from you

Chillin
Ain't got no place to go
Ain't got no one I know
I'm just chillin
Hanging around the day
Nowhere I need to go
Waiting for the next day's show
I'm just chillin

I'm taking a personal day, that's how I win
You keep on knocking but you can't come in
I really don't wanna move if I don't have to

Soul-Searching Drive

Music by David Fowler

Arranged and performed by Echo Movement

Behind the Song
This bottom-heavy dub track was largely written in the car and pieced together later in the studio. My winter of '08/'09 was defined in a series of these late-night car rides. The winters at the Jersey Shore are quaint, peaceful and just down to the townies. The roads are wide open and good for cruising...and cruising is great for deep thought. Maybe it's the white noise from the road or blasting your favorite music. Maybe it's the feeling of movement, even when there's no real place to go.

Cool Facts
The lead instrument is a melodica borrowed from Jay Alders.

To get that oscillating white noise effect, we used a Roland RE-301 (circa mid-70s) with a spring reverb and tape delay. This unit is the follow-up to the famous Space Echo (a legendary unity in reggae), and capable of producing its own self-generated noises that we thought vaguely resembled spacey road noise.

Key Phrase
"To a place I won't arrive, on my soul-searching drive."

Music and Lyrics (chords over lyrics)
Am G
The bass is in my trunk
Am
Light another funk
G
I'm my own nomadic tribe
C
On the road is where I vibe
G
And I'm cruising aimlessly
Am
Dream there's somewhere I gotta be
G
To a place I won't arrive
Am
On my soul-searching drive

So I'm going till I'm gone
Got my sunglasses on
You know it's still too bright
In the middle of the night
And I conjugate my plea
That she's waiting there for me
And I keep my love alive
On my soul-searching drive

Do It In The Ocean

Music by David & Stephen Fowler
Lyrics by David Fowler

Arranged and performed by Echo Movement

Behind the Song
At its root, this is the title track of In The Ocean. The phrase "do it in the ocean" was taken from a vintage (c. late 70s/early 80s) Belmar lifeguard tournament t-shirt. The shirt was dark blue and had silhouettes of two angels facing each other in white. Steve and I remember the shirt from when we were kids, as part of the lifeguard t-shirt collection our father maintained.

Do It In The Ocean started as Steve and I jamming in the studio in the soul-driven style of Stevie Wonder. It developed into an epic saga, of sorts, as the lyrics took shape around leaving civilization for the ocean.

The lyrics were triggered by a daydream built on loose memories. The bars on Main Street in Belmar NJ close around 1:30 a.m., often turning the Summer streets into a carnival. From there, it's a six block walk to the ocean through a beach house suburbia. All locals and many visitors have made that walk. The bars and lights gradually cross-fade with ocean waves.

There are always a collection of late-night wanderers on the beach, all with a different story. But they all have one thing in common- they chose to spend that exact time with their backs to the land. The nighttime shoreline is a close manifestation of "the edge," and even wandering near it can be empowering.

Cool Facts
The cover art for In The Ocean is a painting by close friend Jay Alders called Burning Inspiration. This song features a short soundscape right after the first chorus (@01:12) that puts you in the painting. Stare at the cover art while you listen, and enjoy.

Lifeguard tournaments are a local oceanfront community tradition. Around ten different municipalities convene after hours to showcase their crews' most athletic members for friendly (however intense) competitions. Swimming, running, kayaking, boarding and rowing are all common events. Both Steve and Dave have competed in the Monmouth County tournaments.

The last few seconds of the song has a few voices. One is drummer Colin saying he dug that take. Another is Dave saying "alright..." That was the beginning of some dialog about a monstrous spider that found its way into the studio. We discovered that we left the tapes rolling later on and decided to leave just a second in.

Key Phrase
"All of what's imagined is in-between dreams"

Music and Lyrics (chords over lyrics)
A G F
Moonlight draws the sidewalk
A G F
How you lead me to my friends
A G F Dmaj7 Db
Wander to the ocean never ends
A G F
Lovers quietly talk
A G F
Others' thoughts transcend
A G F
Leave the world behind me
D7 Db
Turn me on to the sea

F#m
It's about where we've been
B
And where we're going
F#m
And it ain't no sin
B
To not be knowing
A
Once we begin
B
We keep it going
F#m E D
That's why we do it in the ocean
C#m D E
For its sweet motion


Crawling back onto land
The waves, they reach for me
Flowing through the soft sand peacefully
Pale moon on the ocean
What's your mystery
Your inviting motion
Waves me back to the sea

[chorus]

[chromatic climb: B to F]

Bb F#
All of what's imagined is in-between dreams
Bb F#
What's impossible isn't what it seems

F#m
It's about where we've been
B
And where we're going
F#m
And it ain't no sin
B
To not be knowing
A
Once we begin
B
We keep it going
F#m E D
That's why we do it in the ocean
C#m Bm C#m D E
For its * * * *

Daydreamer

Music by David Fowler

Arranged and performed by Echo Movement

Behind the Song
Whoever said dreaming should be left to the sleepers? Why should they get all the fun? Besides, daydreaming is a lot closer to the ever-desired lucid dream.

Cool Facts
Steve isn't singing in tongues...that's the verse played in reverse during the horn bridge.

The bassline is a vamp directly inspired by dub legend King Tubby.

The whiney keyboard should be a warm and familiar sound- it's a sine wave with portamento ("slides" the notes together) that first appeared on a legendary 80's synthesizer, the Yamaha DX7. It's been used by everyone from Dr. Dre to Sublime.

Brain scans show that areas of the brain used to solve complex problems are activated while daydreaming (ref - sciencedaily.com, read the article here).

Key Phrase
"I look as though I listen, but you never know."

Music and Lyrics (chords over lyrics)
[Bb Ab]

Daydreamer
All I do is drift away
I'm just a daydreamer
You look at me as if to say

I like to drive my body set to cruise control
I look as though I listen, but you never know
So why I say goodbye just as you say hello
I'm playing golf with aliens down in Mexico