DESCRIPTION:
support the artist: https://jordaanmason.bandcamp.com/album/scattered-seeds-collected-dirt

from the album "scattered seeds / collected dirt"

"songs" comes from a largely unrecorded collection of songs that i performed throughout 2006 alongside "mantra songs" called "is my language my mouth." the point of these songs was that they were meant to be performed in rooms, unrecorded, and forgotten. however, i found - surprise - a recording of this one song, so i thought i'd begin this collection with it. the rest of the songs are out there in the ether now.

"the library" was recorded for a compilation called "can i punk mail my heart?" that some friends from halifax put together in 2010. dylan taylor plays drums and fiddle and sings, dee addario sings, i sing and play guitar and singing saw. this was the only recording released under "the horse museum" without any other names around it.

"yr body knows" is a little snippet of a song idea from 2007. i never finished it but i find it a curious artifact.

"we will never die," "don't sleep," and "this house" were originally recorded to be included on "mantra songs" back in 2006 but ended up not making the cut. "don't sleep" was released on the compilation "i'm doing ok today" put out by sanitary records and features julia malott singing with me. "this house" features a crew of friends singing along with me. all three of these songs were available on the reissue of "mantra songs" put out on CLLCT (rip).

"patrick the ghost" was on a compilation called "now hereness" in 2007, although i think on the comp it was just called "patrick." the character patrick also makes appearances in some of my other songs. he was haunting me a lot during these years. kristina born plays the flute.

"liquids are the new black" and "bear tactics" both come from the short-run tour-only-release "wives all up in here," which was a split with whatever jailer that was recorded rather quickly at the oxford hotel the night before we left for our travels in spring 2008. "liquids" is a cover of one of her songs. "bear tactics" was never really a finished song but this is the closest it got, i guess. my friend dee always hated it and i might be with her on that; not sure.

"from a rocking chair" was recorded in the borden street apartment in 2010. it was for a compilation project in which each artist took a photograph and then wrote and recorded a song in response to someone else's photograph. this was mine. the photograph was taken from a porch looking out at a yard. i was listening to a lot of traditional music at the time so that kind of infiltrated my interpretation. i hit a drum and sing.

"soldier" was recorded in my dorm room at york university in the fall of 2006. it was for a compilation that never came to be. i play my friend josh's electric guitar on this one.

"what's in your head" was part of a compilation called "ukulele and so can i" that came out back in 2006 on lost sounds tapes. this is the only song i ever wrote on the ukulele and i did it specifically for this comp.

"drunk garden boy" and "one day the horses will have their revenge" were on the limited-run "sleeping on lake erie" ep which came out in 2005, before "make blankets your yard." the other three songs on the EP were mostly improvised and weren't very interesting. "one day the horses will have their revenge" features a chorus of friends singing along in my bedroom.

"powerlines" was written for a compilation/zine project in which each piece was a response to john cougar mellencamp's song, "jack and diane." unfortunately, this project was never completed, but i still have this song i wrote for it from 2007, which is heavily infected with themes / ideas that were coming out at the time in my novel, "the skin team."

"hunting" was recorded late at night in arcata, california in a sunroom and was included on a compilation called "things our friends made" put out by we made these records in 2007.

"still here" is a really early song from 2004 from around the time of "one day the horses will have their revenge." it kind of sounds like an early "mantra song."

the last song is a remix of "_____ is water" from the album "divorce lawyers i shaved my head," which was done by my pal tyler tadlock, who makes music under the name spirituals.

the cover of this collection is a film still from "the curse of the cat people."