Fittingly, this albums and the songs were written and published in what would, at the time, unknowingly be my final days in the tranquil yet tainted paradise of the Big Cypress Swamp.
In a departure from my first two albums, these songs evoke a sense of a place that is neither here nor there, but rather everywhere — and inescapable.
Or was I in the midst of a major escape act?
All is revealed in the final song.
As for my fourth act (i.e. album)?
Making three albums was a major milestone. To me, with its release, I’d made it, much like Nick Drake. Or is that a curse? After all, the third was also his last. Thus begging the question: After over a year without playing a song, will there be a fourth?
My guess on that is that you never know and I wouldn’t rule anything out.
After an intense and prolonged period of songwriting – often deep in nature, in areas that have yet to be mapped, and sometimes but not always by a campfire – I am finally nearing completion of my second studio album. It’s theme? Much like my first album New Pangaea it strikes deep in the heart of what the Before Phones Movement (BPM) is all about.
Unlike New Pangaea, my second album takes on thornier topics that many other songwriters would shun due to their complexity and controversial nature. For example, with The Lusitania, I believe I official and forever knock the Titanic (including the movie, and quite possibly the soundtrack – although I’d love to collaborate with Celine Dion) off the top spot and elevate the sinking of the Lusitania as the most tragic and memorable maritime disaster of the past 200 years. Why? Because it’s also an antiwar protest song. Even more subtly, another song on the album – Old Jim Dill – recounts the personal devastation wrought by the Great War, also know as the War To End All Wars, or just WWI and how he, at least partly, overcame it by finding comfort in a nature retreat.
But I digress …
Tentatively, in our studio sessions, we’ve been referring to the album as simply “The Green Album,” although that may yet change. Other names being batted around include Preserved, The Blue Album (long story), Green on Green, and To All My Fans, With Love, Bobby Angel.
People often ask me: “Bobby Angel, what’s your favorite thing about your second album?” My answer is always and unequivocally the same:
Performing the songs to connect their meaning to others. And also, I must admit. I’m kind of itching to do a third album. So it feels good have the second one done, or almost done. As much as I’m an “ad hoc go with the flow” type of guy, I’m equal parts a finisher, too. That’s my secret to songwriting. Get it done and then move on. The longer a song sits the more it starts to lose its original intent. Songs in their truest form capture a moment and just flow.
In his debut album, Bobby Angel brings it with a cascade of farewell songs, one after the other and ten in all, each one followed by an exclusive interview about the song as only a singer/songwriter folk star could do.
And don’t miss out on the cryptic epilogue at the end.
Music aficionados beware:
This album runs on for over 4 hours. But who said the Before Phones Movement (BPM) would ever be served up in 15-second clips?
