''Old Blood'' is an album by
Mayday
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications.
It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiza ...
, released May 14, 2002. The album was recorded in May and November 2001 at
Presto! Recording Studios in
Lincoln, Nebraska. Mayday features the vocals and compositions of
Lullaby for the Working Class
Lullaby for the Working Class was an indie folk rock band from Lincoln, Nebraska, active from the mid-to-late 1990s. Fronted by Omaha, Nebraska singer-songwriter Ted Stevens (of the bands Mayday and Cursive), the group also featured multi-instrume ...
frontman
Ted Stevens. Ted is joined by the remaining Lullaby members, including
Mike and
A.J. Mogis
A.J. Mogis is a musician from North Platte, Nebraska. He currently plays bass guitar in the indie-rock band Criteria. His brother is Mike Mogis. Together, they founded Presto! Recording Studios and have recorded almost all the albums released ...
, whose talents extend from behind the mixing console as players on the recording.
The instrumentation of ''Old Blood'' is referential to the Lullaby staples of guitar, vibraphone, strings, and banjo, extending the formula with piano, organ, tympani, and loads of guest vocals. The resulting sound is both raw and ornate. Revisited themes of spring, rebirth, solidarity, florescence, and distress establish a unity of imagery amidst sporadic changes in song dynamic. The songs were selected from a long and arbitrary collection of demos that have been in the works for years. The name "Mayday" is significant in that Stevens and friends have held a small concert billed as Mayday each May 1 for the last six years.
Stevens has spent the last couple of years playing in
Cursive
Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...
, as well as backing up
Bright Eyes,
Dave Dondero
David Dondero (born 24 June 1969 in Duluth, Minnesota, United States) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. In 2006, NPR's All Songs Considered named David one of the "best living songwriters" alongside Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and T ...
,
Azure Ray
Azure Ray is an American dream pop duo, consisting of musicians Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor. Formed in Athens, Georgia in 2001, they later moved to Omaha, Nebraska and became part of the Saddle Creek Records music scene, which also included ...
,
Simon Joyner, and
The Good Life
The Good Life or Good Life may refer to:
Film
* ''The Good Life'' (1996 film), a Spanish film by David Trueba
* ''The Good Life'' (1997 film), an American crime comedy film
* ''The Good Life'' (2007 film), a Canadian-American film by Stephen ...
. As Lullaby, Ted, Tiffany, Mike and A.J. released three albums on
Bar/None Records and a host of vinyl releases for
Saddle Creek.
For even more Mayday, scroll backwards at the beginning of the first track to reveal several more songs buried in the CD's
pregap.
This album is the 44th release of
Saddle Creek Records.
Track listing
# "Cinquefoils"
# "Come Home"
# "Captain"
# "Tone/Atone/Atonal"
# "Lullaby For The Sleeping Elephant"
# "I Know Moonlight"
# "Confession"
# "Pilot"
# "Temple/Temporary/Extempore/Tempo"
External links
Saddle Creek Records
{{Authority control
2002 albums
Mayday (American band) albums
Saddle Creek Records albums