3 Ways Angelo Badalamenti influenced Slips of the Tongue
What does my 1st album, Slips of the Tongue, and the Twin Peaks soundtrack have in common?
Inspiration from Angelo Badalamenti who just passed away. If you don't know who he is, listen to the soundtrack of the David Lynch (a former Madisonian!) -directed television show, Twin Peaks.
You might never have guessed, but the music of Twin Peaks, a hauntingly dark and beautiful soundtrack, was a huge inspiration to me in the studio at Smart Studios when I made key production and tracking decisions on the songs that became my 1st album, Slips of the Tongue.
Here are 3 ways he influenced me:
1. CONVEYING DARKNESS, LIGHT, + JUXTAPOSITION BETWEEN THE TWO BY USING SOUNDS TO MANIPULATE EMOTION:
Angelo Badalamenti was masterful and using songs to paint pictures and evoke emotion. I used strategies I learned from observing and studying his work to attempt a similar result.
For example:
Low, reverby elements like bass and synth cemented a dark sonic foundation in his work which created contrast against lighter, higher elements such as a woman's vocal, harmony vocals, or an instrumental lead which functioned to convey the melody of the song against the dark backdrop.
The result was stark, and created tension in the ear of the listener. That tension gets released in climactic moments of his compositions.
2. BARITONE GUITAR:
I definitely used baritone guitar on this album b/c of Angelo Badalamenti. I can't recall whether I borrowed the guitar itself from either Butch Vig, who owned the studio, or Duke Erikson, another member of Garbage who worked at and used the studio.
Played by Andrew Harrison on my record, I directly told Andrew to think of Twin Peaks when recording his parts.
Why baritone? It has a deeper, more haunting tone than a regular electric guitar.
Closer to the register of male human vocal chords, I think its lower mid-range contributes to its haunting vibe.
The baritone parts on some of my songs have an essence of a person arguing. You can especially hear an example this simulated vocal sound in "All the King's Horses" beneath the fiddle solo.
There's also a lot of baritone in my song "Blue." (Which you might mistake as bass, but the bass is an upright and super low and doesn't stand out melodically to the same degree that the baritone does.)
3. DREAMSCAPES/NIGHTMARESCAPES:
Finally, creating a feeling that one is dreaming (or stuck in a nightmare at times) was one of my goals in producing Slips of the Tongue. Def another trick from Badass Badalamenti.
That album was written about a particularly dark time in my life, and the theme of dreams (or the veil of depression causing life to feel like a dream) was a feeling I wanted the listener to experience and emerge from as the album continued and came to completion and hope began to surface by the last song “Yet to Come.”
String arrangements ("Lullabye") and stacking layers and layers of harmonies ("Bridges, Burning") were other tactics I used to cultivate a dreamy feeling in those songs.
Funny story about the harmonies on "Bridges, Burning."
I wanted a church choir for the harmonies you hear on the vowel sounds. I didn't have the budget for that.
So I went into the isolation booth and made Mike Zirkel, my engineer, promise not to look at me (because I woudn't be able to hit the notes while making eye contact with him) while I stacked vocals from the lowest to the highest part of my vocal range.
It was meant to sound like a choir of fallen angels or a band of demons. Pretty but dangerous. Sounds intended to be simultaneously comforting but also for some reason put you a little ill at ease.
(My friends Jill Andrews and Josh Oliver also sang harmonies on that song, but they sang over the words of the chorus.)
In this story though I'm just talking specifically about the parts where you hear reverby "ahhhhhhhs" and "oooooooohs."
IN CLOSING,
I'm not sure if I was successful in emulating these lessons from the master of music, Angelo Badalamenti, but I certainly tried.
You be the judge.
If you haven't heard these songs knowing this part of my backstory, go back and listen HERE
You'll probably hear them differently now knowing what you know.
MUSICIANS:
If you’d like to hire me to come produce your record, consult for you, or even act as a session player on the bass or guitar or as a harmony singer, drop me an email or DM. I charge a day rate (or in some cases, a project rate) and would love to help you make intentional, strategic decisions in your recording process.