''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 organiz ...
, released May 14, 2002. The album was recorded in May and November 2001 at
Presto! Recording Studios in
Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...
. Mayday features the vocals and compositions of
Lullaby for the Working Class frontman
Ted Stevens
Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. (November 18, 1923 – August 9, 2010) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States Senate, U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009.
He was the longest-serving Republican Party (United St ...
. Ted is joined by the remaining Lullaby members, including
Mike and
A.J. Mogis, 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 joined-up writing) 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 functionality and m ...
, as well as backing up
Bright Eyes,
Dave Dondero,
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 includ ...
,
Simon Joyner
Simon Joseph Joyner (born 9 August 1971) is an American singer-songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska. He has influenced the music of Bright Eyes, Kevin Morby and Gillian Welch. In the early 1990s, Beck listed Joyner in his top 10 albums when asked b ...
, and
The Good Life. As Lullaby, Ted, Tiffany, Mike and A.J. released three albums on
Bar/None Records
Bar/None Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Early history
Tom Prendergast started Bar/None in early 1986 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Having previously worked in pirate radio, booking and promoting bands in his n ...
and a host of vinyl releases for
Saddle Creek
Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...
.
Track listing
# "Cinquefoils"
# "Come Home"
# "Captain"
# "Tone/Atone/Atonal"
# "Lullaby For The Sleeping Elephant"
# "I Know Moonlight"
# "Confession"
# "Pilot"
# "Temple/Temporary/Extempore/Tempo"
References
{{Authority control
2002 albums
Mayday (American band) albums
Saddle Creek Records albums