This isn’t my first foray into giving a pop song the dub treatment (Red Jacket Mine trainspotters will recall “Broken Dub,” which recast “Better to Be Broken Than Blind,” and was released as the B-side of “Never Had a Bad Idea” in 2015), but Johnny Sangster and I upped the ante this time around, and asked our friend Levon Henry to contribute a new element - namely, a luscious reed arrangement - before we tore everything down to the studs and fired up the Space Echo.
I could insert some cheeky puns here, but to do so would only cheapen my enthusiasm for this rich tradition. I’m amazed (but not surprised) by the brilliance of Johnny and Levon’s contributions, and hope they reveal new, heady corners of the song for you to explore. Please ingest the psychoactive substance of your choice and sink into the music.
Love + mystery,
LB
released April 20, 2021
The cast:
Levon Henry: alto sax, alto clarinet, tenor sax
Lincoln Barr: vocals, acoustic guitar, vibraphone
Jefferson Curtis Brown: harmony vocals
Eric Eagle: drums
Aaron Harmonson: electric bass
Johnny Sangster: electric 12-string guitar, melodica, dub treatments
Daniel Walker: Hammond organ
© & ℗ 2021 Lincoln Barr/Swallow Swords Music (ASCAP). All rights reserved.
Arranged by Johnny Sangster and Lincoln Barr
Produced, engineered, and mixed by Johnny Sangster (
sangstermania.com)
Assistant engineer: Rachel Field
Recorded April 2019 at Crackle & Pop!, Seattle, WA, and April 2020 at Spring Tyme Station, Lexington, SC
Additional recording by Levon Henry in Brooklyn, NY, February 2021
Mixed February 2021 at Crackle & Pop!
Mastered by Rachel Field at Resonant Mastering, Seattle, WA
Design by Shawn Wolfe (
shawnwolfe.com)