Watch now (5 min) | MOODS, the pedal steel ambient album that I created with my dear friend and musical collaborator, Eric Swanson. This one is for all you lovers of swoopy and beautiful pedal steel sounds. It's a continuous piece of music that'll transport you to another dimension of sonic and visual delights that are moody and mysterious AF. We’ve always wanted to make something like this together and I love Eric’s sounds and skill taking the show here. We wrote and did preproduction together in the studio and would send stuff back and forth in between as we were shaping this album. We had never written ambient music and wanted to be really open and fluid in the process. There aren’t choruses, lyrics or story arches in these songs. The only way to convey all of those feelings is solely through the music, the sounds, the space, the ebbs and flows and, I really think the way Eric plays delivers those emotions. So, if you deeply desire and endlessly need that "pedal steel your heart away heaven escape," this portal to the multiverse is here for you in album form. You can get a sonic taste of Moods with the pre-production demo + vid for "Odesa"
Great idea to expand that space! I remember the rain plans tour (I think it was) and the way Eric melted the songs together with ambience from the pedal steel. Especially live, I can sometimes lose myself inside the music focusing on Eric playing and wondering what is going on. It seems so complicated to play and making it sound the way that it tickles my spine. I really appreciate the dimension Eric brings to your music. Where did Eric begin musically and how and why did he pick up pedal steel and evolve his style?
Thanks for your kind words! I've been playing guitar, bass, and other things since I was about 12. Big fan of all sorts of genres: rock, jazz, classical, r&b, electronic, etc. I started playing pedal steel after Barn Doors because we really wanted to recreate the feel of some of those songs live (Rich Hinman played steel on that album). Anyways, I just bought one and taught myself and have been a pedal steeler ever since, although I still feel like a bass player at heart!
Great idea to expand that space! I remember the rain plans tour (I think it was) and the way Eric melted the songs together with ambience from the pedal steel. Especially live, I can sometimes lose myself inside the music focusing on Eric playing and wondering what is going on. It seems so complicated to play and making it sound the way that it tickles my spine. I really appreciate the dimension Eric brings to your music. Where did Eric begin musically and how and why did he pick up pedal steel and evolve his style?
Thanks for your kind words! I've been playing guitar, bass, and other things since I was about 12. Big fan of all sorts of genres: rock, jazz, classical, r&b, electronic, etc. I started playing pedal steel after Barn Doors because we really wanted to recreate the feel of some of those songs live (Rich Hinman played steel on that album). Anyways, I just bought one and taught myself and have been a pedal steeler ever since, although I still feel like a bass player at heart!
Gorgeous.