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Hot Tears

from New Ways by Leif Vollebekk

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about

"This song started out as some sort of Oasis tune. All jangly guitars, with this big guitar riff. . And I just wanted to hear the vocals and drums. Eventually I just took everything and played the piano chords as simply as possible. I had this very specific groove in mind, sort of like a Bill Withers drum break.

When I was working on this song, Bill Withers seemed to be everywhere. In a fish and chips shop in South Australia, from someone's car window on St Laurent in Montreal, and I kept finding myself playing James Gadson grooves from Still Bill on my kit.

At first, I tried recording this song as some sort of Oasis power ballad. But when we would listen to the playback, I just kept wanting to brush away the guitars like cobwebs. We switched to piano, and things started to breathe better. When the hi-hats took up the place of the rhythm guitars I finally heard what had been in my head all those months.

This song was written last year when my senses were much more focused and I saw colours much more vividly. The sky often looked like it could have easily been pulled from scenes from Tree of Life. Recently it started looking that way again.

It was the last song I wrote for the record. It was all recorded live: vocals, drums and piano. But I wanted the drums louder, without being distracting. For a long time I knew that Chris Shaw had mixed one of my favourite Bob Dylan records, but then I read that he started out making Public Enemy records. That made sense to me. So I called him up and asked him to mix the drums like a Public Enemy record. I wanted them to be so present that they began to disappear.

I wanted this song to sound as hot and rough as possible and have the lyrics to fight their way through. I wanted the imagery to seem a little tarnished." - Leif Vollebekk

lyrics

-- Lyrics --

Maybe I’m just drawn to the wonder
I can feel it coming do you hear the ninth?
From the river bridge I hear the thunder
Eye of the storm your skin on mine
 
Tell me what’s the story my morning glory
Whisper it to me in a grand hotel
Telling me all the time I’m sorry
Baby don’t I know it, it ain’t hard to tell
 
Well I know you get so low before you get high
Before you go, come say hello
I’m never gonna find the way to say goodbye
Hot tears
 
Lightning evening in the holy highlands
Down in the hall up against the wall
I know you’re struggling what to call it
Why you gotta call it anything at all
 
Is it a dream or some softer poison
Eyes looking away til they bled the blues
Is it a dream or some softer poison 
Eyes looking away, eyes looking away

Well I know you get so low before you get high
Before you go, come say hello
I’m never gonna find the way to say goodbye
Hot tears
 
Heavenly love is right on time
But is it enough
You gotta find the light

credits

from New Ways, released November 1, 2019
Leif Vollebekk - piano, bass, guitars, vocals
Olivier Fairfield - drums
Sarah Neufeld - violin

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Leif Vollebekk Montreal, Québec

Some artists go on feeling like secrets long after they've started being told. Leif Vollebekk is one of these treasures. Born in Ottawa in 1985, he taught himself music using instruments inherited from his grandfather: harmonica, guitar, piano, an old fiddle. Leif has release 3 albums so far : Inland, North Americana and Twin Solitude. ... more

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