Black Swan Self-Help

Cedarwell

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Watched in a certain frame of mind, Darren Aronofsky's film "Black Swan" can provoke a small spectrum of existential crises from which one might need a helping hand in the form of a traditional folk-song structure drowning in a deep moan of electric guitar moans and shrieks and glittered with patches of sparkly synths so that you are finally driven back to sanity by the steady pulse of drums and harmonies of critical encouragement . . . This is that song.

"Black Swan Self-Help"

Thanks especially for the extra harmonic boost from Jacquelyn Beaupré aka VOULOUSE!!

LYRICS: Take a look at your life, it's the real thing. (when you notice the doubts start a-rising) In the wing of a swan, in the blackest of skins, in a maze of mirrors within,

I’ve got a secret . . . but I’m gonna keep it!

Take a look at my heart, that's a love true. you can follow its lead when you don’t know what to do. It’s a motherless child. It’s a cyclical growth. It expands like the universe—didn’t you know?

I know the right road . . . that’s where I intend to go!

Take a look at the world—that's the real deal. You can let it affect how you feel. It's an infinite sound. It’s a secret design. It controls time—yours and mine.

I got a secret, but I'm gonna keep it . . .

Music: Erik G. Neave, Jeff Patlingrao, & Jared Beckman Lyrics: Erik G. Neave Vocals, banjo, rhythm/bass guitars, & Septavox : Erik G. Neave Lead Guitars, acoustic guitar & knob twerking: Jeff Patlingrao Drums & harmony vocals: Jared Beckman Backing vocals: Jacquelyn Beaupré

Produced, recorded, & mixed by Patrick Boland, Marty Brueggemann and Jeff Patlingrao at Honeytone Studio in Neenah, WI.

Mastered by Gavin Lurssen at Lurssen Mastering in Los Angeles, CA

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Black Swan Self-Help 3:47

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Crossing the Ocean

Cedarwell

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"Crossing the Ocean" is the first single from our the album.** It is a long-distance love song so old that it references Skype! The studio version of "Crossing the Ocean" is quite different from how audiences have experienced the song live over the past several years. (This is true of much of the album). Using the recording studio as a compositional tool allowed for a lighter delicate approach and more nuanced textures throughout. Our friend, Jacquelyn Beaupre (Voulouse & former Blessed Feathers) lent her immense talents to the track singing backing vocals and playing lilting banjo.

**Dia Luein is set for release on April 2nd, 2021 lyrics Crossing the ocean shouldn't take too long now that we understand how the west wind blows. Take all the moments stick ‘em in your hand. They are the only thing that can save us.

Come back to my town we can start a home. I am an honest man—you'll understand in time. Maybe the winter will not last so long. Consider the atmosphere in the morning.

Didn't want two sets of eyes or an escape from my old life. But now I want you . . . and I want it too

Don't want to Skype all the time or want to want to be online But now I want you . . . and I want it too. And I want it too. And I want it toooooo.

released February 5, 2021 Music: Erik G. Neave, Jeff Patlingrao, & Jared Beckman Lyrics: Erik G. Neave Vocals, rhythm/bass guitars, & Septavox : Erik G. Neave Lead Guitars & knob twerking: Jeff Patlingrao Drums & harmony vocals: Jared Beckman Wurlitzer: Marty Brueggemann Banjo & backing vocals: Jacquelyn Beaupré

Produced, recorded, & mixed by Patrick Boland, Marty Brueggemann and Jeff Patlingrao at Honeytone Studio in Neenah, WI.

Mastered by Gavin Lurssen at Lurssen Mastering in Los Angeles, CA

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Crossing the Ocean 2:51

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A Stone, A Leaf, A Door

Cedarwell

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darkly twisted acoustic pop songs layered with a sonic landscape as dense and alluring as the winding roads that inspire the emotive lyrics.

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Untitled 6:06

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Who to Blame? 3:30

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One Man 4:00

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Black Lung 3:48

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Middle of the West 4:48

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Burn Up the Sky; Which One? 3:19

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The Other Side 6:30

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Past Year 4:03

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Run Into Hiding! 4:15

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Seattle 4:55

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In a Way; Springtime 4:16

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Smoky Mountain Bear

Cedarwell

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Weaving richly textured layers of sound, yet remaining undeniably sparse, the new album is a meditative self-confrontation that is raw with mournful honesty and rife with expansive landscape imagery.

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Sunrise 5:10

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The Smoky Mountains 5:04

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Lake Mille Lacs as Singular Lover 5:57

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Dying to Live for Love 5:59

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Lucy 4:04

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Home 3:46

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I am Small the Road is Long 2:52

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Nothing More 3:56

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Oldest Mountain 2:44

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Have Yourself a Merry Little X-mas

Cedarwell

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Written by | Hugh Martin

Guitar | Jeff Patlingrao
Vocals | Erik G. Neave & Jared Beckman

Tracked at Honeytone Studio by Patrick Boland & Jeff Patlingrao
Vocals tracked at Future Fern by Charlie O'Connell

Mixed at Honeytone Studios by Patrick Boland and Jeff Patlingrao
Mastered by Mark Zbikowski

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Years ago, maybe a decade, I heard a radio segment tracking the origin story of Hugh Martin's Christmas classic, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." It was written for the film "Meet Me in St. Louis" with Judy Garland. Martin said he wrote the song to capture the "lugubrious" moment in the film. His word choice surprised me because so many versions I had heard seemed to whitewash the "lugubriousness" right out of the performance. I discovered that, over the years, multiple edits had been made to Hugh Martin's original vision; what remained was a merry little husk of the complexity in those first lyrics. We have tried to point back to that bittersweet, lugubrious original. Those lyrics are especially poignant during this strange era where so many of us are at a loss with how to understand a Christmas celebration in light of grief, relational closeness in the context of distance, and the overwhelming sense of uncertainty for what the future might hold. Will we live in a past that holds our brightest memories or will we muddle through somehow to an uncharted space in ourselves that makes sense of this confusion and noise?

"One must have a mind of winter . . .
To behold the junipers shagged with ice, / The spruces rough in the distant glitter / Of the January sun; and not to think / Of any misery in the sound of the wind, / In the sound of a few leaves . . . "

The winter season soaks up water from the past and holds it deep beneath the earth, motionless, without a desire for spring. The landscape is frozen for months, for years . . . not without hope, but without anxious expectation. This is the place where death and rebirth face each other wordlessly. (Regret is not present.) This is the place where one . . . "beholds /

Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is."

CEDARWELL

—excerpts from Wallace Stevens' "The Snow Man"