In the summer of 2016, Brooklyn's longest-lived band, Life in a Blender squirreled away at Old Soul Studios in Catskill, NY, to record their ninth album, Happy Enough. Producer and Old Soul Studio's owner, Kenny Siegal-who has recorded The New Pornographers, Chris Whitley, AC Newman, Langhorne Slim, and others-manned the large recording knob.
Many of the songs on Blender's latest album were inspired by (not stolen from) other people's works of art. They were written as part of the Bushwick Book Club, a creative project developed by the shimmering Susan Hwang. The BBC encourages musicians to write songs about books, poems, graphic novels, and other written works.
The song "Let the Baby Cry" takes its lyrics directly from a poem by Emily Pérez. She teaches English and Gender Studies in Denver where she lives with her husband and sons. Don's screaming at the beginning recreates his own birth.
"Underneath the Banyan" comes from Unfamiliar Fishes, and taps into the Hawaiian spirit presented in Sarah Vowell's book. Don wrote it semi-nude in Courtney Lee Adams' apartment while she was away and none the wiser.
Two songs come from the works of Kurt Vonnegut-"Rocket to Love You" is based on the novel
Galapagos and "What Did You Hide in the Potato Barn?" is inspired by Bluebeard.
Ralph Carney (Tom Waits, Black Francis, Bojack Horseman theme, etc.) who appeared on Life in a Blender's first album
Welcome to the Jelly Days, finally decided to come back decades later and play clarinet again with the band on "Umbrella," which was written to honor and remember
Fernando Vescia, a joyous soul and a scholarly gentleman who was Don's father-in-law.
Overdubs were recorded at Dubway Studios in New York City where the album was mixed to perfection. The album was produced and engineered by the Al Houghton.
The cover art itself was painted by New York's famous outsider artist David Kramer.
Life in a Blender is Dave Moody, Mark Lerner, Al Houghton, Ken Meyer, Rebecca Weiner Tompkins, and Don Rauf
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