Joseph Arthur on "Days Of Surrender"

I made this record mostly alone in my small studio in Brooklyn
Played all the instruments and sang all the songs
Engineered it as well
Except for when I recorded the drums
(And then Merritt Jacobs lent me his expertise and enthusiasm
Nothing gets done without enthusiasm so thanks, Merritt.)

I didn't overthink it. I wrote the songs at the same time I recorded them. Wrote the lyrics on stretched canvas, because I didn't have any paper around. I'm a painter, so often I have canvas but sometimes not paper.

I think I spent about three weeks on this in total. But three weeks of constant work. 14 hour days. Almost like walking yourself into another sphere to create a sonic world from the ground up, and then it's done and you send it to a few friends and they like it, but you struggle with the idea as to whether or not you should release it. Finding a label. Going tour. Talking about it. Defending it. That part of the process is so far removed from what it was to actually just make it.

I think we live in such a strange time for art and music. The way people take it in or don't. Short attention spans and I-don't-hear-a-single thinking can crush the chance of expression just getting out.

I read something Brian Eno said a long time ago, that albums can have different intentions (I'm paraphrasing), that some albums are big albums and some are small, and not big and small in terms of quality, but more in terms of what their intention is in the world.

Artists are taught to be afraid. By the stakes of what they put out and the judgment of others. And though I agree that you shouldn't just release any ole thing.

My favorite albums by my favorite artists tend to be the intimate outliers. Or to quote Jimi Hendrix, “I'm gonna wave my freak flag high.”

I hope you enjoy this little record I made for no reason but to see if I could dance with it. One more time.

It's called Days of Surrender.

JA