Press Previews

The music for Fahrenheit was written in the summer of 2007 after being commissioned to compose for a stage production of Fahrenheit 451 in Brunswick, Georgia. The music on the record began there, but quickly outgrew that setting and became a regular part of our set. The album, which is being released as a digital download and a limited pressing of 500 records (yes, 12” vinyl records!) is a wild ride that I compare to a 40 minute orbit around the earth. I feel it is truly music of the future. The record features an amazing 6 piece band and covers an amazing breadth of material that is all thematically related. Sections are dark, fantastic, aggressive, soulful, and outright hilarious. It is about the struggle to create something organic and spiritual in an increasingly synthetic world.

SIDE A
1. PLEASURE TO BURN
The album opens with a dark tune that presents two of the musical themes woven through the record. The song is about the sort of post-modern self sabotage that I feel like we can fall into out of anger and complacency, so although it is slow and sad it has a boiling undercurrent.

2. GENTLE HUNGER
This song was crafted out of a third theme, and I am incredibly proud of how it came out! It’s short, yet features the whole band in some way. In an oppressive environment the human longing for beauty and expression will always creep into the light, and that’s where this song comes from.

3. WALLPAPER
Television, background music, billboards, and media blitzes were the inspiration for his song. So many sensational elements are competing for our attention, and this tune is kind of like one that grows into a monster and bites you in the ass.

4. PLEASURE TO BURN 2
Side A ends with an upbeat revisit to the themes presented in the first track. Where it was first a meditation, in this incarnation it’s more of action moment. It became kind of a surf tune, and in my mind it accompanies some sort of chase scene or act of defiance.

SIDE B
1. MECHANICAL HOUND
An altogether new musical element unfolds in this song. It is an aggressive uprising of the synthetic literally; the machines begin to fight back. This is the moment when the villages are razed, the books are burned, and no prisoners are taken.

2. AROUND THE CORNER
This one is developed from a new fourth theme. I tried to create this one as the anthem of the rebellion, and imagined fists raised in the air and bandanas tied over faces. It’s fairly aggressive but centered around more melodic, human elements than the previous tune.

3. DENHAM’S DENTIFRICE
Humor rears its leering face. This song is a musical parody… a trite toothpaste jingle designed to stick in your ear, lure you in, and then stab you in the back. It’s further commentary on TV commercials. As it is based on ye olden “rhythm changes”, this song also became a kind of jazz revenge tune, and allowed me to vent my disappointment in (first) stodgy jazz audiences and then (later) the musicians who choose to play to their tastes.

4. WATERWHEEL
The album ends on an uplifting moment. Waterwheel shares themes with Gentle Hunger and Around the Corner, and again is about hope and beauty and faith that human nature can recognize these elements despite the garbage that we are presented every day.

THE MUSICIANS:
Dan Nettles: Guitar & Loops
Jacob Wick: Trumpet
Greg Sinibaldi: Tenor & EWI
Neal Fountain: Baritone Guitar & Steel
Aryeh Kobrinsky: Acoustic Bass
Jeff Reilly: Drums