in 1996, i was introduced to an album that changed both what i listened to & how i listened: eno’s 1975 breakthrough another green world. although this album led me into eno’s later ambient projects, the stand-out track for me was the more teleological composition, “st. elmo’s fire“. this is not to be confused with the theme song from the 1985 film, st. elmo’s fire, which was, up to that point, my only frame of reference.

that album & that song influenced both the music i like & listen to, and the music i write & record, which has come now to include “st. elmo’s fire“. unlike many songs yearlongday has covered (including eno’s “julie with…“), we tried to stay somewhat close to eno’s original version. for example, the duration of our version (3:06) is very close to eno’s version (3:02). also, we tried to remain consistent with timbre of eno’s original instrumentation & voicing… to the best-yet-humblest of our abilities.

where robert fripp came in with a “wimshurst guitar“, YLD stage-almumnus dave parkhurst offers listeners an “icehurst” guitar for his debut studio recording with yearlongday. dave and i discussed covering this song in august 2011 (15 years after my first listening), but didn’t get into the studio until late october. in november, leah l’orange contributed her vocal harmonies, and this week, i am pleased to offer a rough demo of brian eno’s “st. elmo’s fire“!

http://www.myspace.com/yearlongday

a lot has happened over the past year. we ‘retired from stage’, accepting no unsolicited bookings. although this gave us more time to craft our studio sound & develop our next album, it also left yearlongday as less of a multi-member group, and more of a duo. i also ‘restored’ & released the back catalogue of 3 pre-yearlongday demo-albums written & recorded between 2000-2005. this summer, i produced yearlongdecade: the best of jonathan t marlowe & yearlongday in advance of an documentography in the works.

as a rolling stone gathers no moss, it’s time we turn another corner, and leave behind yearlongday. this means that the music i am writing & recording now, and in the months to come, falls under a new/different category… maybe as ‘jonathan t marlowe’, maybe not. only time will tell how long-term this move will be, but for those of you who really enjoyed the earworm-melodies and boy-meets-girl harmonies, rest assured there are still more on the horizon. not only will leah l’orange be heard on the next (nearly finished) jonathan t marlowe album, she’s already agreed to record another yearlongday studio album as well.

until then, you can always stay updated by following yearlongday on facebook, myspace, reverbnation, ourstage, last-fm, or www.yearlongday.com.

love on ya!

,.. jonathan t marlowe

maybe ‘final song‘ over-dramatizes our latest recordings, but ‘the last singles released by yearlongday‘ would aptly describe them. “sex savant” and “smoke & mirrors” conclude our 5-year odyssey into the yearlongday project, almost to the very day of inception (10/16/06). they aren’t the last songs leah & i will record, but their release signals the final days of our collaborative efforts as a musical duo.

“why?”, one or two of you may ask. the answer comes after many months of reflecting on the effectiveness and necessity of closing the chapter on yearlongday, and reinventing myself and/or my music. and the answer is: i need to do what effectively brings me closer to my own standards of success. if another year like the last will not achieve that, then there’s no need for lingering in artistic obscurity. apparently, we’re just prolonging the inevitable.

so, to make the departure from yearlongday a bit more seamless, please enjoy the first song from the future catalog of jonathan t marlowe, in whatever musical incarnation that may be…

“why is everything too much to ask?“

i was lost, you were found.

i still don’t know what made you stick around.

things were good for a while,

until i tried to go the extra mile.

you said slow and steady always wins the race,

but i’m not satisfied just keeping pace.

i want more, more, more, and i want it fast.

i get bored, bored, bored, trying to relax.

i’m not sure, sure, sure that it’s gonna last.

why is everything too much to ask?

i don’t know.

i was lost, i still am.

i don’t think i could do it all again.

take a walk in my shoes,

you’ll get lost before you know which way to move.

’cause it’s always darkest just before the dawn,

and if it gets any darker i’ll be gone.

i want more, more, more, and i want it fast.

i get bored, bored, bored, trying to relax.

i’m not sure, sure, sure that it’s gonna last.

why is everything too much to ask?

i don’t know.

words & music ©2011 jonathan t marlowe

i’ve played bars, but i wouldn’t categorize yearlongday as a ‘bar band‘. it requires a different kind of artistry to be a successful ‘bar band’… a band that not only performs its repertoire with rote expertise, but also conjures energy from the audience seemingly out of thin (or thick) air. that’s not yearlongday… we lack the aesthetic for mimicry that entails our set list be transformed into a checklist of cliches. just to illustrate the point, i recently (2009) noted what a local band played in a very popular franchise bar:

i’m yours (jason mraz)

crazy little thing called love (queen)

lovesong (the cure)

if i fell (the beatles)

kiss (prince)

let’s get it on (marvin gaye)

all the small things (blink 182)

billie jean (michael jackson)

i saw her standing there (the beatles)

folsom prison blues (johnny cash)

… sugar ray, and more.

new yearlongday demo available:

“like lennon”

january- the original shot-story four years come, four years go is published. it is a narrative companion to my first album, humans, and foreshadows the imminent release of the “expanded edition“. doesn’t make a blip on the radar.

february- the announcement is made that humans: expanded edition is complete. its 29-songs (including 14 bonus tracks of rare, previously unreleased material & new, decade-anniversary mixes) represent the fulfillment of my archive-restoration project, an endeavor begun in 2010 with “restored” versions of utopia and modern moments. yet again, 3 albums in less than 12 months does nothing to invoke even a golf-clap from friends and fans.

march- fearful that the obvious lack of interest in yearlongday.com is leading us into an online abyss (less than 1% of comments, or 4/540 per year, are legitimate), i thought to de-fund the website. after consideration, i opted instead to pair another 12 months of yearlongday.com with the simultaneous launch of our facebook page AND reverbnation profile. the idea was that yearlongday could either sink or swim in the world-wide web, and ‘swimming’ meant promoting with everything available to me. but not a ripple, let alone a splash.

april- spring in swing, i record “anything“, the result of my collaboration with john shaughnessy. the song was intended to create “hype” about yearlongday by using the ‘see-and-say’ nature of social networking to gather random lyrics (literally, anything) from a shared audience. in turn, we hoped this mutually vested interest would bring new traffic to our respective websites. But if the goal was to stimulate momentum, the strategy failed, at least for yearlongday.

may- to remind people that yearlongday… well, exists, we covered rod stewart’s “maggie may“, AND released “get me back to nola”, “edgar cayce”, “today will never end (single)”, and “just because” but five new songs weren’t enough to keep us from the margins of the local music scene. no buzz, no hype, no momentum… i started to wonder why no one seemed to care that yearlongday continued to make creative and intriguing original music.

june- another announcement and more music… “like lennon” comes to the forefront, the first recording with leah l’orange since our debut album, while yearlongdecade is announced as the title of the forthcoming ‘best of’ album. also, smothered by the silence is announced as the forthcoming autobiography of jonathan t marlowe & yearlongday. after these invitations to be part of yearlongday’s evolution and legacy draw little response, i began to not just wonder why, but speculate in a public campaign suggesting that blacklisting and collusion are as valid explanations as any.

now it’s july… “starsick” was a fan-favorite from our live set, and it will be released soon as the herald of our new album. but i can’t pretend that i am excited; and i can’t say that this will be the song that jump-starts our ‘comeback’. we never left. we’ve been doing what we’ve always done… making the best “neo-retro lo-fi avant-fab hipster dream-pop crap” you’ll find anywhere, online or onstage. but you gotta look… even little children peek through their fingers at what they’re afraid to see on the screen.

love on ya!

… jonathan t marlowe

tentative track list for the “best of jonathan t marlowe & yearlongday” album. the album will span 2000-2010 as a companion to the forthcoming biography, smothered by the silence. at the moment, no album art.

1. my formula (from humans)

2. believe (from humans)

3. nobody hurt without an excuse (from humans, 2000)

4. sally (from humans)

5. set me free (from modern moments)

6. my life / walking in my sleep (from modern moments)

7. today will never end (from restoring utopia)

8. love (from restoring utopia)

9. simple (from best excuses)

10. the odds are against me (from best excuses)

11. best excuses (from best excuses)

far be it from me to build mountains from molehills, but 2011 is showing potential to be another epic year for jonathan t marlowe & co. consider the evidence…

- march: my first album, “humans” is restored and expanded to 29 songs, including 14 bonus tracks of rare, previously unreleased material & new, decade-anniversary mixes.

- may: released 5 new songs… “get me back to nola”, “edgar cacye”, “just because”, “today will never end (edit)”, and a cover of rod stewart’s “maggie may”.

- june: collaborating with john shaughnessy on new music, and beginning yearlongday’s biography smothered by the silence.

- july & august: recording the next album!

once your standards fall low enough to actually read this blog, you may notice that gigs are not in the picture. that’s because we’re focusing on our strengths and likes; i feel that yearlongday is better represented by our studio recordings than our live performances, so expect more from us in that aspect. not only do we find empowerment, we also find enjoyment in the countless hours spent recording, editing, mixing, and releasing from our home studio. i’m not saying you won’t see us in local music venues… i’m saying you’ll only find us booked after much persuasion.

lotta love on y’all!

… jonathan t marlowe