Track By Track: Tex Crick - Sweet Dreamin'
The artist shares a track by track of recent album Sweet Dreamin' out via Mac Demarco’s illustrious Mac’s Record Label.
Music is more than just notes; it's a gateway to emotions, stories, and experiences that can take us to places we've never imagined. Enter the enchanting realm of Tex Crick's latest musical creation Sweet Dreamin'. With each track, Crick masterfully guides us through a captivating journey, allowing us to explore a vivid tapestry of moments and emotions.
In this feature, Crick navigates through each track, delving deep into the intricacies of Sweet Dreamin'. Tex Crick's latest album invites us to explore the rich landscapes of his compositions, where every note and lyric paints a vivid picture. So, without further ado, let's dive into the mesmerising world of Tex Crick's Sweet Dreamin'.
Easy Keepers
During recording, I dropped a pair of chopsticks in my Tokyo studio while listening back to a mix. It hit a glass of water and made a nice sound. I re-recorded the sound on a couple different glasses of water to alter the pitch and that's what you can hear during the pre-chorus of the song. The song follows a fictitious story of a lover accused of cheating, throughout the chorus they explain they are nothing but an ‘easy keeper’, which is a type of livestock animal that can survive on relatively little attention or food such as a donkey, mule or horse. Basically they’re comparing themselves to an easy keeping animal that ain’t going nowhere and there’s nothing to worry about.
Silly Little Things
Like a few of my songs, this one is about appreciating those fleeting moments in life. small pleasures that leave a lasting impression. The backing vocals were meant to be a reference for someone else to sing, but the more I worked on it the more it kind of made sense. It’s like some offbeat lounge act singing in harmony, but all the members are me. I hope It makes it all a little more earnest and sweet.
Alley Cat
There’s a lot of street cats here in Tokyo. I watched one sneaking around the alley by my studio, all playful and slinky-like… I tried to write a melody that sort of captures that free-spirited nature of an alley cat.
Mulberry Wine
This is where the record takes a turn and all of a sudden you’re at a bustling jazz club at 3am and you have no idea how you got there. There’s not much to this one other than singing about all the extravagant things you’ll do to win someone over. I wanted to write something upbeat that you can bop to but still make it an interesting song musically. All the other songs on the album are pretty mellow, so in comparison this is sort of a show-tune on crack… but at the same time trying to keep it classy.
On The Run
This one, I imagined was going to be the opening theme song for a ‘detective cops’ style TV show and wasn’t intended to be on the album. I wanted to make an animated TV show with myself as a detective but ended up scrapping it. It strangely fits with the album and takes it to an interesting place so I left it in there.
All I'm Dreaming Of
This one sort of pulls you back into the real world. It’s another turning point of the record. I tried recording this song in many arrangements but ended up going with this version to fit the album.The acoustic guitar you hear in this track I found being thrown out on the street, took it home and ended up recording those chorus riffs.
Drifting Off Again
A short interlude to slow things down a little. “I can’t help but dream of you”, followed by an ethereal synth pad. It gets you in the mood for the soft rock ballad coming up next…
Barefoot Blues
I had a dream that sort of gave me the idea for this song. I was listening to a lot of Hawaiian music at the time I wrote it so it must have really found its way into my psyche.
I was on an island somewhere, in a tiki bar with a woman and there were children dancing all around. It was really beautiful so I sort of made up the rest of the story… A reminiscing drunk suddenly catches himself recalling an unforgettable night he had with a woman at a tiki bar. Some local children encourage the woman to play a Hawaiian guitar and she is beyond naturally gifted… People gather round and are mesmerized by her effortless skill on the instrument.
Fond memories can easily become over exaggerated, so it’s sort of hinting at that. The Hawaiian guitar is not an easy instrument to play at all so maybe the guy is just drunk.
Spring Fever
The final track on the record, an instrumental to leave listeners in a reflective mood. It’s a slow melodic piano improvisation with chords repeated underneath. The wonky synth sort of adds to the warm mood I wanted to leave listeners with. Like a final breath, it ever so gently brings the record grinding to a halt.
