Stay With Me

When i returned from visiting my sisters a few weeks ago, i have to admit that this video was the one i was most proud of. much like my fathers day tune, this song was written and performed while i was in a group called "Spark that Screams". for those of you that don't know, spark that screams was the group i formed with josh mcnorton before my year long hiatus in Germany that brought me back to start the Painted Birds. we were a 3 piece of two guitarists and a cellist, who one day joined forces with a drummer who was more interested in programming and sequencing electronic beats than playing conventional drums. the group existed as a 3 piece for probably 5 months before Gavin Dew, our beat machine, joined the group. that being said, there were two distinct phases of Spark that Screams: the first as a folk group and the second as a more spacey shoe gazy kind of depressing rock that would be it's final incarnation.

As the story goes, while we were still in our folk phase, we arranged to go into the studio with Tom Dobranzki of lotus child and record a demo with the 4 or 5 songs that we'd recently worked out. the song which we were the most excited with at the time was actually the one i posted on father's day, epilogue. a week or so before we would enter the studio, my life was turned upside down and all recording plans were postponed indefinitely. I'd just found out that my mother had passed away in a car crash in peru. Even after a long needed break in the interior I found it hard to rejoin the group for a while. I honestly didn't know if i'd ever be able to play music again.

that summer my sisters and i went on a vacation to savary island with one of our mother's best friends. the week we spent there was quite rejuvenating and as a surprise to me i managed to write two new songs while i was there, both which i'll be posting here. the first you can listen to above. the story is of a man who is so possessive of his lover that he convinces her to run away with him to an island where they can just be with each other and only each other. with time, however, the man's lover grows tired of the seclusion and escapes from him without his knowing.

i wanted to get a recording of my sister and i singing the song while i was in calgary last and when nicole started putting on her makeup during a run through i said, wouldn't it be great if you did that for the recording.

if you want to hear what spark that screams did with it full band there is also a recording of it at www.myspace.com/sparkthatscreams .

as always enjoy

dom
www.thepaintedbirds.blogspot.com