Ours & Others, the second collection from The Small Square arriving on Farm to Label Records October 31st, finds the duo of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Paul Chastain and drummer, percussionist, and vocalist John Louis Richardson in fine form.
Chastain is the songwriter and co-founder of rock group Velvet Crush and has worked both live and in the studio with Matthew Sweet, Mitch Easter, Roger McGuinn, Susanna Hoffs, Tommy Keene, and more. Richardson has recorded and performed with the likes of Joey Molland (Badfinger), Gin Blossoms, Jay Bennett (Wilco), Tommy Keene, and many others.
Chastain and Richardson have a long association and their collaboration pre-dates The Small Square Small, where recording at Richardson’s Drum Farm Studio sees Chastain traveling from his home in Japan to work with contributing musicians for a week or more at a time, and then continuing to hone and expand tracks from his home studio.
Chastain often works on possible lyrics for quite some time, and is comfortable with this ongoing process which leaves some unfinished. The key element for him continues to be a particular phrase that captures a feeling, and he often assigns a phrase to a song fragment to act as a kind of signpost for future development.
A major through-line for the album Ours & Others was shaped by life events due to the passing of longtime mutual friend and bandmate Tommy Keene. As an inspirational figure who opened for The Matthew Sweet band, toured with Velvet Crush, and played in Richardson’s band, the impact of his loss was significant.
Today Glide is excited to offer an exclusive premiere of the album in its entirety, which is brimming with the kind of power pop sounds that have also put the other projects of these collaborators on the map. These are straightforward, guitar-driven tunes that put the vocal harmonies front and center on nearly every song and grab your attention with their infectiousness. Fans of Velvet Crush especially will dig this collection, though this music finds Chastain imparting a bit more wisdom. These tunes all feel poignant as they dwell on heavier themes like loss, love and yearning, but do so in a way that also rocks out.
Paul Chastain of The Small Square describes the inspiration behind the album:
We strung together Ours & Others from fits and starts over several months’ time. The songs, to me, represent honest attempts at honesty. Ignoring as many external influences as possible, using only our own sensibilities and instincts as our map. Some of my all-time favorite themes like loss, love and yearning, the stuff we all endure or embrace as we try to keep on keepin’ on, are in play throughout.
LISTEN:
9 Responses
Cleary an AI-written article, but good to ses them get some press.
actually it’s not AI but nice try
Then it’s terribly written. Hopefully you wrote it.
i did not. take a walk hater.
If this wasn’t written by AI, then Glide needs to hire some better writers:
“Chastain and Richardson have a long association and their collaboration pre-dates The Small Square Small, where recording at Richardson’s Drum Farm Studio sees Chastain traveling from his home in Japan to work with contributing musicians for a week or more at a time, and then continuing to hone and expand tracks from his home studio.”
And now Glide won’t let negative comments go through moderation. Good job, good effort
You do you, but maybe google “life skills” and go from there.
Thanks for the tip. The first result was “ignore advice from people with names like LL Cool Bri.”
For clarity, at the time I sent that message, the comments were disappearing, whereas the first one I posted said it was under moderation. So I initially thought they were deleting them. My mistake, “LL Cool Bri.”
John and Paul….Congratulations….this is so perfect…I’m really happy for you