ADKOL Demos by Romulus Rues

Here are the demos i sent to the band before meeting up to rehearse & record Adkol, and a little commentary on each of the tracks

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so in 2014 I went through that world ending breakup I think most people do, and I kinda lost it for a few years. A Different Kind of Light album is made up of songs I wrote while working through all those feelings.

Recording
After finishing writing & putting together a track list I spent about a year on and off working on demos and saving up money for studio time, I had no idea how much it was going to cost or how long it was going to take. After finishing the demos I found my players, I say found, but I already knew who I wanted on the album and thankfully all my first choices said yes! i wanted everyone on the album to be as already aligned with my musical tastes as possible
On Bass Fox Diaz, my long time friend and half of the psych band Debris of Titan who I had formerly played drums for, he is usually who I call when I need a bassist, I love how melodic he plays and also the sounds he can pull out of his pedal board.
On Drums Jared Nelson, Jared is an amazing drummer and rightfully plays with A LOT of different bands here in the Hudson Valley, I had first seen him play when I opened for his old band FONBA in like 2017-2018 or something, I knew immediately that I wanted him to play on whatever I did next. He was super well versed in a bunch of styles and had that dilla groove that I love
On Lead Guitar & Woodwinds Desmond Teague (@desmondteaguemusic on instagram), I had played with Des a few times while I was drumming with Debris of Titan, but we were jamming one time and something just clicked and I knew it had to be him, while the youngest on the album(was just about to leave for college) he is a monster and has only continued to grow since we recorded the album in 2021.
and On keys Sean Merryman ((Mr.) Amen Yearns https://soundcloud.com/amenyearns) , I love love love Sean's music, the self-titled Mr. Amen Yearns has never left the rotation since it dropped in 2016. I just always feel in sync with Sean, he's a real one.

I am very loose with instructions for parts I asked these guys to play on the album because I trusted them all implicitly. I gave them the demos and said do your thing. We ended up playing through all the songs twice together before hitting the studio. I asked Jesse Barki, who did the recording mixing & mastering, if it was possible to just record everything at once and he said yes, which was, I feel, the best decision we could have made. Everything just went so smoothly, I dont think I will record an album another way ever again. We got 95% of the album done in like 3 days, first half day 1, second half day 2, then overdubs and auxiliary parts and vocals day 3. All of the songs we hit in one or two takes, it was amazing and a refreshing difference from the last album which I was so burnt out on and actively started disliking by the end of everything. The only thing that I regret about the recording process is that Sean wasnt able to make it down and record in room with us, other than that everything went perfect. Maybe next time I'll decide to use a metronome but we'll see.

So 95% was done in three days, why did it take so long to come out. Mainly my job takes me away for months at a time twice a year and finding the time to want to work on it when I was finally home was hard, and also I wasnt in a rush to get it out, the album is mainly for me and I didnt want to put it out until things were done right. That last 5% was a sound collage that I needed to get some home movies digitized for and harmonies. A bulk of the harmonies were done by Winston Dunlop (the other half of Debris of Titan). His ear for melody and harmony is truly incredible, and at this point no one has a better since of my music proclivities like he does, its like he can read my mind, and its why despite our schedules rarely syncing up I knew that the album could not come out with him making the magic happen that he does.

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