Out on All Hands Electric , May 29th 2020
Formats: Double LP | Digital
Catalog #: AHE-23
Release Date: May 29, 2020
TRACKS:
1. Shine
2. Mad Season
3. Come Morning
4. False Spring
5. Magnetic North
6. Last Fair Deal
7. Careening
8. By Starlight
9. Man Beside You
10. Slide
11. Riverbed
12. Black Dirt Drift
13. Seaside Downtime
14. Leave The City
15. Amnesia Moon
16. Free To Go
All words and music by Zachary Cale © Ride Through The Rain Music. SESAC. 2019
Recorded at Seaside Lounge by Matt Boynton. Except “Man Beside You” and “Magnetic North”, recorded by Charles Burst and Jason Labbe at Seaside Lounge. Mixed by Matt Boynton at VIR studios.
Cover illustration by Ryan Williams.
Cover Layout by Ryan Johnson.
False Spring Press Release:
by Matt Fiander
False Spring, Zachary Cale’s sixth full-length album, explores the spaces between the cold we left behind and the uncertainty ahead, between that fleeting, green warmth and its lack. “Shine a light on the path so I can see,” Cale sings on the album opener, “Shine,” making a plea for hope and happiness rather than merely claiming it, starting the search for whatever possibility may exist. And the album explores so many possible paths in ever-shifting textures. On “Come Morning,” Cale admits “I’m just sitting on a fence, two fingers out to test the wind” while on others songs — the disorienting anxiety of “Mad Season”; the bittersweet travel of “By Starlight”; the mix of hope and regret that comes from staying afloat on “Slide” — False Spring vacillates between facing down the troubling now, reckoning with and paying tribute to then, and sifting through the dark to find the faintest match-head of light for tomorrow.
Cale’s poetic lyrics etches out all these themes in complex layers and careful melodies, but the band he assembled for False Spring drives home the sense of openness and possibility in these songs. Cale is accompanied here by Brent Cordero on piano, Wurlitzer and organ, James Preston on bass, and Charles Burst and Jason Labbe on drums. Cale brought the songs to the studio and enlisted the players to flesh them out. He didn’t write parts for the musicians; they figured out their own way through these tunes. The record is the sound of the band finding itself, capturing these songs live in all their subtle, ragged glory. The album’s 16 songs run just over an hour, but the expansive record is, at every turn, an intimate affair, the listener invited in as these players find connections between this part and that, between one song and another, between melody and feeling.
Stylistically, the band never hems itself in, expanding its sound and morphing it over the album’s extended playing time. Early tracks set up shop within lean, dusty folk rock, but things change from there. There are touches of cosmic Americana and country and some Petty-esque tight yet gauzy rompers. Several tracks are instrumentals, acknowledging roots and stretching exercises for Cale and the band. The sweet, solo guitar of the title track, for instance, uncovers some of the early country-blues sounds humming under these tunes, while “Magnetic North” whips up a full-band blues stomper. These instrumentals, and the album as a whole, explore tangents and push at borders, but while they add variety they also — on a more fundamental level — suggest cohesion at the heart of the album’s wide-open sound and aesthetic.
False Spring is Cale’s first album in five years, since the gauzy and atmospheric gem, Duskland. The album was received well, a tour followed but within the year Cale refocused his energy on writing new material. In 2016 he went on a solo tour opening for Dan Bejar of Destroyer in smaller cities across America. More recently he’s been playing in a spattering of other bands and supporting other musical projects.
And all that time, he’s kept one foot in the studio, recording lots of material, several albums worth. And all of this on top of a full-time job. In short, like so many independent musicians, Zachary Cale has been working.
This new album, though, isn’t the sound of work at all. It’s the sound of setting thought aside to feel the music. This doesn’t set out to make a product; this album explores a process. And, as a result, these dusty, bittersweet tunes stretch out, they breathe. They live in all the in-between spaces Cale evokes so beautifully in his lyrics. The fleeting spring can leave, the new growth may get marred by frost, but the warmth of these songs — in all their hope and worry and anxiety and open possibility — will stay with you long after the final note ripples out of the speaker.
photo by Matthew Placek
False Spring is a long, sweet ramble of an album. Like the view from an early morning flight, it assumes a vantage where everything looks still and glowing and peaceful. . .A companion for the long haul”
-PITCHFORK
originally posted in PITCHFORK, June 26, 2020 →
These are generous songs, filled with a need for connection and conversation… it’s hard not to hear 2020 in virtually every moment of False Spring ”
-AQUARIUM DRUNKARD
originally posted in Aquarium Drunkard June 1, 2020 →
[ False Spring ] is a raft in waters that aren’t so forgiving and it’s worth holding on tight.”
-RAVEN SINGS THE BLUES
originally posted in Raven Sings The Blues, June 3, 2020 →
Whether acoustic or electric, his playing speaks to you plainly, directly and rather beautifully.”
-DUSTED
originally posted in Dusted, May 28, 2020 →
SHINE
Shine a light
Upon the path so I can see
I need your voice
To blend with mine in harmony
Fill my lungs
With your breath to lift me up
I need your love
To make me strong and radiant
Song take flight
Lifting high
Drag the tide
With eyes like diamonds
Shine so bright
Ease my mind
Show me how to be at peace
I’ll be the light
I’ll be what you need me to be
Song take flight
Lifting high
Drag the tide
With eyes like diamonds
Shine so bright
Zachary Cale : Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
James Preston : Bass
Brent Cordero : Piano
Jason Labbe : Drums
MAD SEASON
The sand is shifting
The clocks are turning
The rivers rising, the sky is all aflame
I have to look away
Disconnection
Isolation
Our buried problems become exposed in the rain
I have to look away
Wish I could be strong
Be the light in your song
But I’m tumbling down
Mad season
Lost weekend
Uneasy feeling blocking out the sky
Come on give us some light
Under the weather
We roll together
Tarred and feathered we wipe the sleep from our eyes
Come on give us some light
Open the floodgates
Watch it wash away
‘Till the sun plummets down
Zachary Cale: Acoustic Guitar, Lead Guitar, Synthesizer
James Preston: Bass
Brent Cordero: Wurlitzer
Jason Labbe: Drums
Alfra Martini: Harmony Vocals
COME MORNING
I’m afraid of leaving
But I know the time is now
To pack my things and settle debts
To break ties with the ones
Whose willful ignorance
Fills my mind with noise and violence
So where do I fit
Where do I go
What kind of man am I
I’m just a traveler
Among more travelers
Looking to put roots down
Away from the maddening crowd
Give me a reason
I need a reason now
I’m just sitting on a fence
Two fingers out to test the wind
For the golden age is crumbling
Come morning I’ll be gone again
Stones are thrown in resentment
For reasons centuries old
I’m lost in questions I cannot answer
Caught between opposing sides
That fracture and multiply
I stand here voiceless
Too tired to even cry
I’m just sitting on a fence
Two fingers out to test the wind
For the golden age is crumbling
Come morning I’ll be gone again
Zachary Cale: Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
James Preston: Bass
Brent Cordero: Piano, Wurlitzer
John Panos: Flugelhorn
Erik Elligers: Saxophone
Jason Labbe: Drums
FALSE SPRING
Instrumental
Zachary Cale: Acoustic Guitar
MAGNETIC NORTH
Instrumental
Zachary Cale: Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
James Preston: Bass
Brent Cordero: Piano
Charles Burst: Drums
LAST FAIR DEAL
Nature runs its course again
Depression rears its ugly head
I’m going back to where I started from
My tears are dry
My heart is spent
I used it all to make the rent
Bent over backwards ‘till I came undone
Tried my best to outshine the sun
Out of work and
Out of touch
Memories turn to rust
All I knew was left out in the rain
Death card pulled from the pack
A change has come I can’t turn back
Cross the border
Use a different name
Don’t belong in this picture frame
Nothing quite like rejection
To light a fire where you’re standing
The last fair deal has gone down
It’s check out time
Best I leave this town
In the sobering of the sunlight
And the restless hours of the night
Time will find me hanging by a thread
Stumbling through the years I go
Rolling with it blow by blow
Distracted by the briars in my bed
Can’t still the thunder crackling in my head
Morning came and
Morning went
The sky grew dark and I grew tense
Like a beast at last unchained
Unsure which path he should take
Zachary Cale: Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
James Preston: Bass
Brent Cordero: Wurlitzer
Jason Labbe: Drums
Dan Iead: Lap Steel
CAREENING
Circling the summit
Without a minute to lose
Like an earth-bound comet
Heading straight for you
On a frozen pathway
Pushing past the wind
No longer on the freeway
Grinding your engine
Draw back the curtains
Let the light come through
Lift this veil of curses
Before it defines you
Break the vicious circle
Find the escape route
When the comet crashes
I’ll be next to you
Wired to sky
All through the night
All through the night
All through the night
Fire in your eyes
All through the night
All through the night
All through the night
All through the night
All through the night
All through the night
Careening
Screaming
From the heavens it falls
From the heavens it calls
Zachary Cale: Acoustic Guitars, Vocals
James Preston: Bass
Brent Cordero: Piano, Rheem
Charles Burst: Drums
BY STARLIGHT
On the freeway
Paying no mind to my speed
What’s lost won’t be found
I started to race
Past a small distance I climbed
All low and high
‘Neath a bloodshot sky
Using the last of the light
No time to stall now
There is no reverse
By starlight
I can see your sad eyes
I know sorrow carries this hurt
My heart, it don’t push
Like it used to its gone soft
So many miles
I wandered this far
To find all the worst come to life
I too can shine with an evil light
Dancing across the wire
Caught in a tailspin
Spiraling down
By starlight
I can see your sad eyes
I know sorrow walks on this earth
Zachary Cale: Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Brent Cordero: Piano
James Preston: Synth Bass
Alfra Martini: Harmony Vocals
MAN BESIDE YOU
I wanna be the man beside you
I wanna be your best friend
I wanna be the man who loves you
I wanna make some difference
I wanna be your piece of heaven
In a world that’s cold and mean
I wanna mend what’s badly broken
I wanna figure in to your dreams
Hold on
Hold on
I’m just a breath away
I’m just a breath away
Hold on
Hold on
Don’t you know my name
Don’t you know my name
Come on give me your hand
I wanna be the one beside you
I wanna be a better man
I wanna be the one who loves you
I wanna give you everything I have
Hold on
Hold on
I’m just a breath away
I’m just a breath away
Hold on
Hold on
Don’t you know my name
Don’t you know my name
Come on give me your hand
Zachary Cale: Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
James Preston: Bass
Brent Cordero: Piano
Charles Burst: Drums
SLIDE
So many storms so many changes
You had to face just to arrive
Becoming what you are born for
It don’t come overnight
Time don’t bow to you
Though I’ve seen you slow it down
Time won’t bend for you
But it might let you slide
You say slide
Let me slide
Lord let me slide
Slide
Let me slide
Lord let me slide
Lord let me slide
All those faded pages
You had to turn, they cut your skin
And all those pretty verses
You had to learn just to begin
Time won’t wait for you
Though I seen you slow it down
Time won’t brake for you
But it might let you slide
You say slide
Let me slide
Lord let me slide
Slide
Let me slide
Lord let me slide
Lord let me slide
Zachary Cale: Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Matt Boynton: Synthesizer
RIVERBED
Have no need of heaven
I built it up to break it down
A fool now
I’ve been lay-living
Forgot about where I belong
A fool now
No time for me to rest
I live all day at arms
There’s trouble here on the road to Babylon
The day won’t deliver
I’m weighted down
I’m going to the river
To clean my crown
Sun brings in the morning
Here comes every little law
That I crossed
Gone down to the water
To throw away all I’ve got
And all I’ve lost
There’s nothing left behind me
I wish to own
There’s nothing to deter me
From coming home
When I lay with you
I hear the hammer of your heart
Clear and sharp
Have a hard time believing
Your answers come without a cost
No none at all
Down the road I find
I’m light of step, clear of mind
Together I know we’ll be safe from the storm
The thunder cracks above us
Oh let it come
The sky will fall upon us
Oh let it come
Zachary Cale: Rhythm and Lead Guitars, Vocals
James Preston: Bass
Brent Cordero: Wurlitzer, Rheem
Charles Burst: Drums
BLACK DIRT DRIFT
Instrumental
Zachary Cale: Electric Guitar, Electric Piano
James Preston: Bass
Ethan Schmid: Drums
SEASIDE DOWNTIME
Instrumental
Zachary Cale: Acoustic Guitar
James Preston: Bass
Brent Cordero: Wurlitzer
Jason Labbe: Drums
LEAVE THE CITY
It’s time to pack up
It’s time to move
The lights have changed down the avenue
I know you’re stubborn but you know it’s true
It’s not the same town you once knew
To leave the place that you know so well
Is like breaking up with yourself
Where do you go, where are your friends
They done split for the horizon
Where will you go now
What will you do now
Where will you go
Now that you’re home doesn’t feel like your own
Pick it up baby
Kick it on down the road
There was a time when you knew these streets
Every stain and crack in the concrete
But all the charm has been chipped away
To make room for the new estate
Where will you go now
What will you do now
There was a time when you knew these streets
Every stain and crack in the concrete
But all the charm has been chipped away
To make room for the new estate
Where will you go now
What will you do now
Where will you go now that you’re home doesn’t feel like your own
Pick it up baby kick it on down the road
Zachary Cale: Electric Guitar, Vocals
James Preston: Bass
Brent Cordero: Wurlitzer
Jason Labbe: Drums
AMNESIA MOON
Is this a dream
Some cruel joke pulled on me
Amnesia moon
Who are you
Like a stone sinking
Through oblivion
A man without a past to share
No soul to bare
No name to give
No truth to bend
No love in mind
No will to fight
The dark that tries
To block the light
I guess this is me
Raging against destiny
Amnesia moon
Who are you
Like a stone sinking
Through oblivion
A man without a past to share
No soul to bare
No name to give
No truth to bend
No love in mind
No will to fight
The dark that tries
To block the light
Zachary Cale: Electric Guitars, Vocals
James Preston: Bass
Brent Cordero: Piano
Charles Burst: Drums
Dan Iead: Lap Steel
Alfra Martini: Harmony Vocals
FREE TO GO
Well do my eyes deceive me
Or is that land just ahead
I’ve been treading water so long
That now all I want is a bed
There was a mutiny on board
The ship I was to navigate
And my luck has deserted me
And left me in this watery grave
But I won’t
Go down easy
Least not
Until the earth’s beneath me
Please God
Don’t let this be a mirage
Please God
Don’t let this be a mirage
It’s true that confusion is the only thing that’s real
Salvation is expensive
And only something you could steal
For in my search for answers
To illuminate the treasures that I seek
I have only run in circles
Ready now to be swallowed by the sea
And I
Will go down easy
When my breath leaves me
I’m free to go
To return as a ghost
You’re free to go
To return as a ghost
Zachary Cale: Acoustic Guitars, Vocals, Organ,
James Preston: Synth Bass
Brent Cordero: Piano
Alfra Martini: Harmony Vocals
Matt Boyton: Rhythm Programming
