Curvey (front right)
Gregory Curvey speaks to Jason Barnard about his Custard Flux project and latest album Phosphorus.
What was the creative process for Phosphorus?
I employ many different methods when I write, but the majority of this latest album, Phosphorus, was written on guitar, usually around a new riff that I’d come up with. I have a Martin back packer guitar and take it with me everywhere. A great little guitar that has an ethnic sound quality. You can hear it on the solos I’m playing on Orbital Transport.
My wife’s family rents a cabin on Lake Michigan for a couple of weeks every summer and it’s a peaceful, quiet place to work out song structures. I’ve been focusing on odd time signatures to make my songs a little more interesting, and every morning at the cabin, I’d play to a drone and practice my Indian scales, which would inevitably drift into soloing where I’d then stumble upon a new riff. I record everything that I feel has potential on my phone, and have built up a library of riffs and ideas to work on or be inspired by. Roses And Wine, The Devil May Care, and Staring Straight Into The Sun are all examples of songs written from those saved riffs.
I haven’t used a click track or metronome on the last few projects, with the idea of letting the songs flow naturally. If a song starts out quiet and slow, then speeds up along the way, I’m okay with that. I don’t think that it’s discernible to the listener on any of the tracks on Phosphorus, but I do know the tempos waver. I start by recording a scratch guitar or piano track, then play the drums to the scratch track, and then all the other tracks are recorded to the drum track tempo. The process works well. All of my parts for an individual song, including the vocals, are recorded before I send the tracks off to the other musicians to add their ideas, then when everyone is finished, I start editing and producing, inevitably chopping out parts I’ve recorded to give sonic space for my bandmate’s parts, or to add dynamics or emphasis to a verse or bridge. When all of the tracks are finished and laid out in album order, which I do by feel, I may add parts to help with continuity, like doubling an acoustic solo with an electric guitar solo for instance, or adding and interlude. Continuity is the hardest part of the process of making an album, in my opinion. Well, that and writing song lyrics. Lyrics are always the last part to be finished up when I’m composing. I may have a chorus hook or a phrase, but the rest of the words take much more time to work out. I think The Gardener probably has the best lyrics on this album. It’s based on a real event pulled off by one of my friend’s brothers in High School.
How did this develop in the recording process?
The instrumental tracks on this album are my favorites, and I’m very thankful to have Mars Williams playing saxophones on a few of them. I absolutely loved what he’d done on Oxygen/Gelatinous Mass, and his work on Phosphorus, Strawberry Squid, and Orbital Transport is super. By Order Of The Grand Vizier is the only track on the album composed on piano, and was actually recorded during the Echo sessions, but didn’t fit on that album, so I saved it for a later release. I added the motorik bit at the end doubling the guitar riff with harpsichord, and Vito plays a killer guitar solo over it. I think the over ten minute song turned out pretty cool. When I started Custard Flux I envisioned the project as more progressive with less pop songs. I can’t seem to shake the pop, but I’m very happy with the way the music is progressing. I hope you like it too!
What are your future plans?
I’ve started working on and recording tracks for the next Custard Flux project, and have acquired the cover art, another beautiful painting by Gregory Chamberlin. The title will be Einsteinium and it’s slotted for a Friends Of The Fish release next year. If all goes as planned there will only be a couple tracks with vocals, and the rest will be instrumental, including one long track on one side of the album. That’s the goal, anyway. I’ve also been saving up tracks for a new The Luck of Eden Hall album. It may be time to pull out the Arp Odyssey and my painted Stratocaster again.
Further information
Phosphorus is available digitally, on CD and Limited Edition Double LP 140g Colored Vinyl via custardflux.bandcamp.com
