When the dust settled we had traveled up and down the California coast four times: twice by car, twice by plane. We recorded in a church on top of a hill in San Francisco and in the darkness of an industrial warehouse in Carson. We collaborated with artists from Argentina, Italy and Spain. We had recorded an album of considerable complexity (with some songs dedicating ten tracks to percussion alone) in five different locations hundreds of miles apart. Then we lost it all.

In September of 2004 musician and vocalist Joel St. Julien sent over a few early demo recordings with the hope of receiving some artistic feedback. After listening I told him to keep in touch with me and let me know when he had an album of material he could send. After moving from Philadelphia to San Francisco, Joel introduced himself shortly before Justice Constantine and I performed at The Hemlock Tavern during our Xn.+ tour with Castanets. Shortly thereafter I received a disc of fleshed out demos in cut up paper packaging with a few notes and song titles written in pen or pencil. By this time the still unnamed group included two Joels: St. Julien and co-vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Joel Brown-Tarman. They asked if I could refer a Bay Area producer to help them realize the potential of their songs. In hopes of visiting San Francisco again and working on a little bit of music, I volunteered. I never did see the city.

In late January of 2006, we recorded for three straight twelve hour days. Working out arrangement ideas, textures, and getting everything recorded. We accomplished a surprising amount of work: all of the album’s ten tracks were present. Some dangerously close to being finished. We resolved to finish vocal tracking and add some legitimate rhythm section heavyweights a few months later in Long Beach.

At the end of April Joel and Joel flew down and we started finishing. After recording all the final vocal tracks in my living room we drove to a nondescript warehouse in Carson where Adam Garcia had his drum kit set up. Adam had the unenviable position of laying drums down after everything else but the combination of natural reverb and Adam’s drum sound was magical. The final day of recording in Long Beach consisted of masterful acoustic and electric bass overdubs from Anthony Shadduck, murky mixes, minor audio glitches and catching a return flight back to San Francisco. Between the 23rd of April and the end of the year the album would be mastered and remastered at least ten times.

Then the hard drive containing the masters died. Somehow, neither the group, nor I had a single hard copy of that final, fateful master. We would have to remix the entire record. We reconvened back in Long Beach on January 21st 2007 for three tortuous days of mixing, transferring, mastering, remixing and remastering. Since the original recordings were made I had converted my entire studio to running on my Mac. We would now transfer everything from the portable multi-track recorder and reassemble the album track by track and song by song. We put in three more ten hour days before arriving mixes that sounded noticeably brighter, cleaner and fuller than the “lost master.” The album was being reborn. We even added a few new tricks to make things fun. Finally after one eight hour mastering session (which contained six separate master attempts) the album was finished. In early February I flew back to San Francisco and hand-delivered the final, magnificent master and started work on these very liner notes. Which promptly disappeared from my computer.

Postscript
This first, self-titled album from ellul was, aside from Twilight & Ghost Stories, the most expansive, complex production I had ever undertaken. Instead of a weekend in San Francisco, I worked on this record in some manner for a solid year. Remarkably, I still enjoy listening to it. Every song on this album has a secret; a hidden texture. I actually wept during the recording of certain parts. I am as proud of this album as anything else I’ve been involved with. To Joel St. Julien and Joel Brown-Tarman, thank you for the honor and the privilege, when do we start work on the next one?

Personnel
Joel Brown-Tarman- vocals, acoustic piano, organ, synthesizer, melodica, programming, percussion
Joel St. Julien- vocals, electric & acoustic guitar, electric bass, percussion, programming
Adam Garcia- acoustic drums
Chris Schlarb- electric guitar, electronics, percussion
Anthony Shadduck- electric & acoustic guitar

Produced and engineered by Chris Schlarb