“Intro To Astronomy”
…is the working title of Wirelight LP 3. It’s real, it’s happening, and it’s basically ready to drop whenever I hit the big red launch button (Artemis II blasted off from Florida a few days ago, so I’ve got rockets on the brain).
Last summer, which is apparently the last time I updated this here blog, I previewed that LP 3 was expected to include ten new songs, but, as is so often the case in this life, I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud, and the reality is that LP 3 will be comprised of only seven (delicious) bops. But whatever, I didn’t promise you anything - I was just vaguely prognosticating. We don’t execute groundhogs when they’re wrong about winter, do we? Wait…do we? I hope not. They don’t know anything, really, and neither do I.
Surf Green Strat (left), a new addition to the arsenal, is showcased on the new LP.
Rest assured, the seven songs that made the cut are choice af - real grade-A music beef, etc. - and the silver lining is that there’s a bunch of stuff stockpiled for some pretty quick follow-up releases. I’m talking 1) a collection of B-sides and demos that have been stacking up in the closet since Megaturquoise in 2020, and 2) an EP (or, who knows, maybe an LP, but don’t quote me on that, shit I said it out loud again, it probably won’t be an LP) that will represent our first collection of “we actually tracked these drums live in the home studio” songs.
For this release, though, I’ve reached what has become easily my least favorite part of the cycle: marketing and promo. What this phase has come to mean for me is diving back into generating regular posts and stories on Instagram, researching what kind of paid promo is trendy and actually effective, reaching out to music bloggers to beg for single premieres and write-ups, and then, as all of that dust swirls around the room and eventually settles, wondering whether any of it actually amounts to much of anything at all. I’m admittedly no good at this part, plus I’m openly pessimistic about the industry at large at this point, so my answer tends to skew towards “no.”
Which is fine! Because it’s all about the music, man. Although, I have wonder: if The Wirelight releases an album in the forest and no one’s around to hear it…did I go platinum? But that’s a deeper, more philosophical question for another time (never), so let’s freakin’ can it for now.
Back to business: what’s on the album, you ask? Tracklist incoming, in no particular order since I haven’t figured out sequencing yet:
Back In The Headlines
Hitchcock
Lift
Shades of Blue
Magnified
Quantum Mechanics
Dylan
Those first three are reworked versions of songs I tracked a few years back with other producer-engineers and that we’ve been playing live for a while - “Taylor’s Versions,” if you will, even if there’s no public war being waged over the rights to them (YET). You’ll be able to hear Version 1.0 of each of those on that upcoming B-sides release I teased above.
The other four are truly NEW-new, though…still shrink-wrapped and rockin’ that new-car smell.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Single #1 should be upon us in a matter of weeks, so you’d best make your way out to the forest and find a comfy listening branch.