Restlessness

 Mid-late 2019/Early 2020

 

In September 2019 my brother Marian and I visited Planta Baja Studio, a recording facility in Villa del Parque, one of the many neighborhoods in downtown Buenos Aires. We’d found the place while searching on Google for a studio with a grand piano available. It was for a, what I like to call, mega online cover that we wanted to make with LIGHT, our band. That song was “Hey Jude” by The Beatles.

Germán, the owner of the studio and recording engineer, captured Marian’s take beautifully with three pro mics while Gonza, a good friend of Marian and an always welcomed guest home, filmed his performance for the eventual video upload on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Around five months later the cover became a reality. It involved musicians from Argentina (Tigre, Santos Lugares and Olavarría -Buenos Aires-), United States (California and New Mexico), England (South Devon), Peru (Lima) and Canada (Québec). Completely unaware of it, LIGHT published the final video on 30 January 2020, exactly fifty years after The Beatles’ last live performance on that rooftop at Abbey Road in London. Pretty neat, don’t ya think?

Two weeks after this, on 16 February, the band released The Miracle Of Life, our second studio album. The whole of 2019 had been spent writing and recording the material, fifty-three minutes of music that, I’m happy to say, is worth every note in my book. Nicolas (Jourdain) and Leandro (Galera), both members of the band Resist, did an amazing job on drums and bass respectively. My compositions, just as the ones by Marian, were powerfully enhanced by their creativity and execution; undoubtely an invaluable contribution that’s been immortalized in the form of high resolution WAV files.

We got together for a second time for a photo shoot around Tigre, our hometown (they’re the guys from Santos Lugares, 24 kms away from where Marian and I live). The first time the four of us shared the same physical space was in February 2019 when Nicolas and Leandro came home for the initial meeting to talk about the project and how we’d proceed throughout the year until the record was done. (Leandro recorded all of the bass tracks from his home, whereas Nicolas and I visited Juan Estanga’s Custom Studio Recording in Palermo, downtown Buenos Aires, three times throughout that year in order to get all of the drum tracks down.) And done it was almost exactly one year after that first gathering.

Gonza was the photographer. Again, an ace under the sleeve, as we say in Argentina (“Un as bajo la manga”). The job was done in an hour or so during that Sunday afternoon, so we came back home and decided to deservedly listen to the full album together before Nicolas and Leandro drove back to Santos Lugares. It was great to comment on the experience, share feelings and thoughts triggered by each song, even certain passages from each track that somehow stand out.

Fortunately there weren’t any plans to play live. The idea was to focus on promoting the record, getting it out there by sharing videos of its songs, having independent radio stations play the edited (and non-edited) versions of the tracks, and so on. So when lockdown striked, it didn’t feel like such a blow. Yet things did inevitably slow down one way or another. That’s how I figured I’d move forward with everything that was on me regarding the next record. Actually by March/April 2020 all of the new stuff was written. My job was to prepare the guide tracks for eventual drum recordings, so that’s how I kept sanity going while confinement was taking place worldwide. Yet once that was all set, what then?

Well, LIGHT saw itself forced to stop for a time… But not Claudio Delgift.

 

Mid 2020

 

I didn’t find anything better to do than putting my mind to new solo music. There are two folders in My documents, LIGHT and Delgift, filled with raw mp3 tracks which contain guitar ideas recorded with the cellphone on the spot. When one of these ideas is captured, the next step is to decide whether it’s got to be saved inside either one of them. By that time there were a total of eighty-three files altogether. Some of them ran at between twenty-thirty seconds, even less! It may seem pointless or not really an inspired thing, you know? However, anything that I choose to capture is because it feels worthwhile, be it a chord sequence, riff, melody line, etc. It’s already been proven time and again that it’s indeed worth saving these. Anytime I listen to past albums I’m reminded of their importance. But with this new solo album -the self-titled one as it's got no deep meaning to it other than making music for the sake of it- I valued that Delgift folder even more. In the past the compositions would come out way more effortlessly, so those ideas were basically an aid to the spontaneous songwriting. I guess that after so many releases it becomes harder and harder to write full songs in just one session. So this time their structures were realized by approaching them in a more architectural way. I’d choose some of these files and import them into the DAW to see if they’d connect someway. Seeing the music and playing it back on a DAW helps because of the clarity it provides.

This process was the norm during those fall and winter months (Southern Hemisphere) of lockdown. And voilá! After a while, content running at thirty-five minutes divided into eight instrumental songs came to be. Luckily a solo album can get recorded with much more ease than that of a band thanks to the Internet and the many excellent musicians one can find available online and invite to play in one’s projects. Rodrigo Concha, a Chilean drummer who lives in Boston USA, was really enthusiastic about the new music and wanted me to pass on drum guides to him so he could create the drum parts and eventually record them. Four of the songs have him behind the kit, “Flying Sparks And Alien Warriors,” “An End In Sight?,” “The Wheel Still Spins,” and “Unleashed.” There are also Noé Keller from Switzerland on drums in the song “Drifting” (not a great fan of Instagram but I must admit it was totally worth creating an account there, otherwise I would’ve never come across Noé, who nailed it) and my long-time online friend Theo Heidfeld from Germany, who grooved it in “About To Break Loose,” a short Funk/Blues jam played as a trio with Isao Fuji from Japan on bass. Theo, Isao and I had already worked together in “Over The Hills And Far Away,” an online cover of the Led Zeppelin song, in 2017.

The remaining two songs, “By The Fireside” and “Desmond,” have me playing all of the instruments. Well, the first one is actually a one-take acoustic guitar piece. I remember fully writing and recording it in about twenty-four hours, a refreshing exception to “the norm” described earlier. “Desmond” demanded two or three days before being finished as it contains multiple instruments: acoustic and electric guitars, fuzz bass (with wah-wah!), drum programming, a bunch of synthesizer tracks, tambourine… even maracas! What’s funny about “Desmond” is that it was originally forty-something seconds long (raw mp3 file that’d been saved on that folder probably more than a year ago). I’m still amazed that the full three-minute song, structure-wise, is exactly like that raw file, just stretched in its rounds, what allowed the piece to develop as it should. This one in particular made me feel really good with myself when it comes to being responsible enough to capture anything that my gut says, “This will work one day.” It’s awesome that an ongoing arpeggio with mainly open strings, a “wrong” chord, going back to the initial arpeggio and a closing standard chord sequence captured one day just like that can become a round piece of crafted art. It’s a great feeling when you’re a witness of that day which proves all of the patience and constant work poured into it has finally paid off.

Late 2020

 

The fall and winter span of time inspired me to write the lyric for music that Marian had been playing for a long time. We usually work together like this: if he’s got any music of his own, he utters words, be them nouns, adjectives, verbs, anything that’d be related to the music that came out of him. Then I use those meaningful words to craft a lyric that’d fit the vocal melody line. This song ended up being named “Spring Is Coming,” and it’s a perfect representation of how it felt to go through lockdown and cold weather all at the same time, while looking forward to the arrival of warm days (and hopefully the end of quarantine as well).

It was such a relief to see that people said “enough!” when spring was here at last. Tigre has always seen lots of visitors walking the streets during weekends as it’s a touristic city. Now one sees almost the same amount of pedestrians on weekdays! “Spring Is Coming” feels really appropiate as I witness this outcome, kind of a soundtrack to that picture. (It'll be included on LIGHT's third album.)

So the self-titled solo album was finally released the first week of October. It fared pretty well, taking into account the fact that I’m a 100% independent artist with cero marketing experience, lol! Twenty-six people bought the digital download, almost one per day, and several more enjoyed the videos made for its songs on Facebook and YouTube. When the album was nearly finished I thought of yet two more solo releases before the end of 2020, a set of two compilations, one acoustic and the other electric. With a suitable remastering plus a remix of two of the rocking electric tracks it was going to be enough. An Inner World brings together what I believe are the best acoustic-ambient songs I ever wrote and recorded, whereas The Outside World gathers the most competent material that shows the power of Rock music that’s always inspired me.

These two sides of the same coin plus the self-titled album were the final steps to wrap up eight years of solo career. Now that I’ve taken the time to curate my art, I created the Bandcamp page where all of this stuff can be listened to and purchased. This is it when it comes to my activity as a solo artist. Now it’s time to resume what was pending regarding LIGHT.

The stars seem to align and let one lead their own way. In September I happened to message Germán from Planta Baja to learn about new prices and payment methods for future drum recording sessions. Let’s remember that the “Hey Jude” grand piano take Marian recorded there had been in September 2019. There isn’t any will to, say, celebrate anniversaries or anything of the sort, it just happens. Well, to my convenience, Germán accepts PayPal, an option still barely recognized here in Argentina. I took him into account for whenever Nicolas was ready to go. Turns out he bought himself some mics and a recording device to start working from home, indeed a game changer. It’s most probable that the drums will be 100% worked out by Nicolas himself from now on. Yet this didn’t stop me from pondering the idea of recording all of the vocals for the third LIGHT album in one session at Planta Baja.

The only time I recorded vocals anywhere else but home was on 31 May 2019 in London UK. I travelled there to see Dido at the Roundhouse, that was the reason for the trip. Once the plane ticket was bought and there was still plenty of time before the day of departure, I came across a video on YouTube about SARM Music Village, Trevor Horn’s recording studio, which is situated in London, precisely. It was said to be all-in-all affordable so I figured, “Why don’t I record a full song in England?” Needless to say, I loved the idea. Unfortunately, the people at SARM didn’t accept PayPal and they didn’t provide any instruments either.

I saw myself forced to let go of the idea. Unless… Of course! SARM can’t be the only recording studio in all of London, can it? Immediately I browsed Google and the first result that popped up was Greystoke Studio. Andy Whitmore, the owner, replied to my message saying he accepted PayPal and that all of the instruments in the studio could be used with no added cost. Bingo! Three hours were booked and the chosen song was “Aimless,” a shortened acoustic version of the LIGHT single “Let Go” from The Miracle Of Life (funny that “Aimless” was recorded and released before the original band version).

I was excited and yet a bit nervous given that this was going to be my first time working on a studio with non-Spanish speakers. I took it as a challenge, like “I must make myself understood.” And everything flowed nicely, exactly like working at studios in Buenos Aires with fellow Argentine musicians and sound engineers.

I loved everything from that session but if I had to choose my favourite moment I guess that’d be recording the vocals. There were only ten minutes left and I said to Princeley, one of Andy’s assistants, that I didn’t want to bother and the vocals could be recorded back home. He said, “Please, no. Go ahead and do it.” To this day I’m thankful for his encouragement, it allowed me to hear for myself the striking difference between recording with a combination of condenser mic/top quality headphones and plugging a Shure SM58 as a straight signal to the portable studio with basic monitors.

I was ready to revamp that experience at Planta Baja with Germán behind the desk. I asked for a set of two-three hours on Friday November 13 (coincidentally, AC/DC released Power Up that same day). I was determined not to just go sing the songs and do my job, I wanted that day to be something even bigger.

When I was fourteen, the friends I used to hang out with back then came home for a sleepover at the backyard on a tent. The next day one of them said, “Let’s ride our bikes to San Isidro!” That sounded like the wildest thing to me, never having left Tigre by bicycle before. We did it and just as recording vocals in London opened up something long term for me, so did that bike ride. It became one of the most liberating habits of all from that day on.

So my visit to Planta Baja wasn’t going to be by train or bus but by getting on the bike for those 26 kms with just a little sports bag with extra clothes, a turkey sandwich, the digital camera to take some pics and pendrive to bring the takes back with me. I got up very early for breakfast, got everything sorted out and went to the backyard for the ride. Dad helped a bit by placing the sports bag tight below the seat so I didn’t have to take it hanging from the steering. It was pretty windy that early in the morning, therefore I covered myself enough to stand it, not too much, knowing that once I picked up the heat lots of layers would be unbearable. Despite the wind, it was sunny and temperate, a perfect day for the two-wheeled.

For more-or-less fifteen years I’ve been hitting the side roads of the Buenos Aires North Access Highway back and forth. This access connects downtown in the South with the Northern Area of Gran Buenos Aires. Tigre belongs to the North. The train which also connects both places ends in Tigre, though the railways are further to the East and the North Access to the West. Villa del Parque, my destination, is to the Southwest. The best plan was to take it easy alongside the highway until reaching Gral. Paz Avenue. This one crosses the highway and goes from East to West for several kilometres. It also settles the boundary between the Northern Area and downtown. Around one hour since departing, I reached it comfortably, even if I’d risked getting quite lost for not paying strict attention to my quickly handmade chart the day before. Ha, ha. That chart proved worthless anyway, I veered away from the indicated streets too early in the journey. I realized on the spot that I could gain time by avoiding rounding a huge circle and simply cutting through a straight line as much as possible (no thanks to you, Googlemaps, ha!)

There weren’t any set backs other than actually losing perfect track of the streets near the studio. I knew I’d reached Villa del Parque because of being familiar with the surroundings. I wasn’t worried, but I had to check the time to make sure I was going to make it at 11 am sharp, the hour agreed with Germán. At a corner I stopped, took away the cellphone from the sports bag and read 10:06 am, all good. Googlemaps, in this instance, was helpful. I was just seven minutes away and about to get to Planta Baja by riding a few more blocks almost in a straight line.

                        

Since I got there forty minutes earlier I just relaxed. I wasn’t tired, really, but what else could I do? The thing is that not even two minutes had passed until Germán came up, also on a bike. I thought, “OK, there’s no time to kill then.” Better if there isn’t, let’s do this!

In the kitchen in front of the console room we had a glass of cold water and talked about this unusual year. Germán’s into Buddhism and Taoism. His view on the pandemic focuses on Karma. According to the Chinese horoscope, 2020 is the year of the Rat, and that means that the universe comes to collect our debts. Apparently we’ve been pushing the planet’s limits for far too long and somehow the world needed humanity to slow down. I’m more of a conspiracy theorist, meaning that all of this is, if not orchestrated, taken full advantage of by the powers of be to bring on that thing they so much love to repeat over and over on the 24-hour news: the “New Normal.” That phrase always sounded so off to me, and it saddened me to see so many people openly embracing the so-called New Normal without even a tinge of anger or, at least, suspicion. Germán didn’t discredit this way of looking at it, it’s just that he goes beyond the events happening in this earthy state. “Whether it’s a genetically modified virus intentionally released from a lab by perverse scientists ordered to do so by the Elite, or a genuine naturally poisoned bat soup at a Wuhan market, Karma was meant to manifest itself in front of our faces.” One way or another, we all had to make it through this weird circumstance.

The supposedly two-three hours to be spent there ended up being four. Yet that’s my fault, I wanted to go ahead and try out a Rush cover of “Resist” that’s been sketched for years. Maybe those vocals will make it to the final version of our cover. If not, there will be another session at Planta Baja sometime in 2021. The important thing is that all seven original songs from the third album were sung, among them, "Spring Is Coming." And just as my intuition told me, going to a studio for this task was the right move. At home, what’s supposed to be an advantage -all the time in the world- might as well be counterprudent. One easily becomes obsessed with each line and feels they aren’t being nailed no matter what. At a studio, the clock ticks away and one knows it’s way better to sing the full song straight and give your best shot for each take. I learned right there that the best plan was to sing each song from beginning to end twice, and if then there was something that didn’t work well in any of the two tracks, that particular phrase could be sung separately and overdubbed.

It was pretty exciting. I was happy I wasn’t nervous because somebody else was present, something that at home does put me off. Now, it’s still me and that’s my voice there, as it’s always been. There’s no extreme makeover to go crazy about. Nonetheless I hope this loosed vibe will positively affect the songs once we get to their ultimate form.

At three O’clock in the afternoon we stopped to prepare all of the tracks so they could be loaded to the pendrive. I opened my PayPal session from Germán’s computer and transferred 76 USD -19 USD per hour- to his account. I appreciated his professionalism, good manners, and interesting views on life, also the fact that he loved the lyrics I wrote for this new album. He saw me to the door, explained how to get to Libertador Avenue -the most direct way to Tigre-, and said goodbye, both of us looking forward to working together again in the future.

Before riding back home I had to sit down at a corner on the floor and have my turkey sandwich for once and for all. Yeah, I was starving, even if I wasn’t really aware of it during the session. Now with a full belly and the sports bag properly tightened back to the seat, I gladly got on the bike and followed the bicycle path along the left side of the street. A turn to the right and back to the left for several blocks and I was in Belgrano, over Cabildo Avenue. I knew there are two really nice record stores here: Jack Flash and Maniac. What’s more, while riding down Cabildo several wallpapers of AC/DC’s Power Up popped up. That convinced me to stop at the gallery and check if any of these stores was open. Maniac wasn’t, but Jack Flash was. Unfortunately the album isn’t available in physical format in Argentina yet, but the store’s owner was sure that it’ll be printed as a national product and distributed among stores very soon.

Quite a few more blocks to the East and I was finally on Libertador Avenue. This is a well known one that’s parallel to the North Access and the train railways. In fact its distance from the railways varies from cero to about ten streets wide throughout its full extention (28 kms). And contrary to other big avenues like it, it doesn’t change its name once the East-West Gral. Paz Avenue is crossed. At this point I was tired indeed. I’d been standing almost the whole session and this second portion of the trip with intense sunshine heating up the pavement plus so much traffic during the Cabildo segment wasn’t making it any easier. But on Libertador, which is a much friendlier path for bikers, I gained some strength back.

At the Northern Area, the part that goes from Vicente López to Martínez, there’s a coast path with the view of Río de la Plata, the widest river on Earth. In 2004 its sight inspired the lyric to “Is This The End?,” Part One of the 21-minute-long Our Spirit suite. Some verses of “To Think, To Say, To Do” from Vol. II (included on The Essential too) also came out while spending leisure time there after a regular bike ride from back in the day. It’s the ultimate place related to my teen years. Therefore I felt it more than appropiate to stop and get really close to the river again and capture the moment. At 7 pm I had to be back home for a guitar lesson so I didn’t spend too much time there, enough to rest a bit and feel content with that tinge of nostalgia. There’s been enough right-here-right-now/looking ahead for the day, if you ask me.

Around half an hour later, I got home. Marian was about to leave when I opened the door, dad came from the backyard a few minutes later. “You’re dead,” said Marian, laughing at my sweaty red face and gasps for breath. He asked about the recording, whereas dad was more interested in the journey back and forth. We chatted a bit and soon I climbed up the stairs to have a bite to eat before my student rang the bell.

                     

This Friday 13 felt like a much needed triumph over 2020. Something inside me said this year couldn’t end without doing something special. I’m proud and at the same time thankful for the experience lived. It’s always about getting it out of one’s system, anything that must be taken out. Each of our lives is made out of that relentless release of energy, it’s what makes a difference in the world, somehow, someway, every day.

“To answer the inner call and move on. Steps to a road that grows ever wider”