Title: Ashes Of Dreams We Let Die [E.P]
Release Date: 25 March 2012
Recorded: Three Crow Studios, Los Angeles, California
Genre: Alternative Rock, Acoustic, Folk, Americana
Length: 35:14
Label: Chaos Records!
Producer: Brandon Caulfield, Sarah Jade Harrison
’Ashes Of Dreams We Let Die’ is an E.P from American alternative rock singer-songwriter Brandon Caulfield. Initially planned as Caulfield’s third studio album titled ‘Fireflies & Bedouins’ and following the completion of the album, Caulfield came to the decision to change it to an E.P, not only making that decision but deciding to scrap at least half of the songs that had already been completed and instead deciding to record the whole E.P as a complete with a larger backing band. The album was initially recorded between August and November 2011 and saw Caulfield work on specific songs for weeks in an attempt to perfect the lyrics and melodies, the title track in particular took Caulfield over 3 months to finish writing but as Caulfield finished up the recording of the album he decided that it wasn’t good enough, it didn’t have the effect that he wanted and so he came to the decision to scrap the finished version of the album and re-write the songs, deciding to make it an E.P rather than a full length album and also deciding to record the album with a new backing band titled ‘The Midnight Runners’. The E.P was recorded in less than a month, from the end of February to mid-March and was given a release date of March 25 2012, just a week after the release of the lead single, ‘Fireflies & Bedouins’.
Album Themes And Composition‘Ashes Of Dreams We Let Die’ is an E.P with minimal production, the songs on the E.P are pretty much the same as they sounded during the live recordings, not an awful lot of editing went on in the studio which leads to the E.P having a raw and quite typical sound which will no doubt make the live performances of the songs on tour sound almost like-for-like with the studio version of the songs recorded for the E.P. A number of the songs theme’s relate to a war-type situation, most notably ‘Fireflies & Bedouins’, ‘Battle Scars’ and ‘They Can’t Take Me Away From You, Forever’ and the energy of the band give the songs a little more power with a whole host of instruments played on the album including, ukulele, harmonica, organ, accordion, saxophone, flute and violin. But it’s core elements remain the guitars and vocals, they bring the songs atmosphere’s, lyrics and theme’s to life and Caulfield’s vocals switch between soft rock to growling folk vocals throughout and remain a standout of the E.P.
The songs primary themes are rooted in regret, loneliness and frustration but there’s always that sense of something more, that glimmer of hope or light most evident on ‘Battle Scars (I’m Coming Home)’ as Caulfield sings about returning home to his wife after fighting in a war, “So now I’ll make up for my time away from you/My battle scars will fade over time too/I’m coming home, I’m coming home, I’m coming home it’s true/I’m coming home, I’m coming home and baby I won’t stop holding you.” Which gives a sense of relief if only for a brief moment as the next song poses a question of loneliness, “Does This Darkness Have A Name?” The mix of themes work together but the primary theme is that of a depressing nature, but did you really expect anything else from Brandon Caulfield?
Songwriter’s Analysis“It was a frustrating time working on this, I think the first recording session was in August and the songwriting process started way before then. There was a certain feel that I had for the album and I worked hard on trying to achieve that but when I finally finished up recording the album and I had that first listen to it I knew right away that I wasn’t gonna be releasing it as it was, I had recorded it entirely solo and sure enough I was pretty disappointed with the outcome after almost four months of hard work.
So instead I decided to leave it for a little while before coming to the decision to record the album with a group of musician that I had known for a little while now, I reworked the songs and eventually had about six or seven songs that I felt were pretty good which ultimately ended up on the EP, it was frustrating to throw away the other seven or eight songs that I had written for what was to become my third studio album but for me it’s mostly about the output and in the end I came to the decision that those other songs weren’t good enough. If I don’t think that the songs are up to scratch then I’m not putting anything out there.
Five songs on the E.P were written for what would have been my third album, the difference is that they’ve been re-written and I’ve gone with a much more interesting route with them, taking a more rambunctious folksy feel with my backing band, when it came down to recording the E.P we just played like a garage band without any real pressure and I think that comes across on the E.P and as a result I’m much happier with the E.P than I was with the album.
There’s an approach to the songwriting that I’ve taken on even more so with this work, it’s much more of a storyteller vibe, its core influences come from that late 70’s Americana type thing and primary influences from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Jackson Browne, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan.
I think the stories within the songs paint a picture that can hopefully pull people in and the songs, in my opinion bring a good close to this chapter of my life, it may be a while before I record something again and so I hope and I believe that these are quite possibly the best set of songs that I’ve written.”
- Brandon CaulfieldTracklisting1. Fireflies & Bedouins (5:16)
2. They Can’t Take Me Away From You, Forever (4:39)
3. Haunted Memories Of A Former Hero (4:14)
4. Ashes Of Dreams We Let Die (3:22)
5. Footprints Of My Soul (4:41)
6. Battle Scars (I’m Coming Home) (4:01)
7. Does This Darkness Have A Name? (5:11)
8. This Land Is Your Land (Woody Guthrie Cover) (4:30)
PersonnelBrandon Caulfield – lead vocals, guitars, ukulele, harmonica, lyrics, production
Alexander King – piano, organ, accordion
Carlton Vazquez – saxophone, backing vocals, tambourine, flute
Jakob Francis – guitars, backing vocals
Sarah Jade Harrison – acoustic guitar, backing vocals, piano, violin, production
Tom Lokám – bass guitar, organ, accordion
Anthony Browne – drums, percussion
