POWERPLANT

Between working, playing GBV songs for Bob Pollard himself, and playing way too much FFXI, this weekend I was able to churn out two new songs for my latest HCMJ project, known as 'POWERPLANT.' The album started as a massive concept album about a rotten corpse missing the lower part of his body, dragging himself one handful of radioactive dirt after another across a post-apocalyptic horrorscape. While I still hope the album is able to follow some sort of abstract narrative form, it has definitely started to deviate a little from the original intentions.

Most of the time I'll write the songs first, then watch as an album sort of 'finds' its concept. I'll listen to it all and think "what is this really about?" But POWERPLANT is the first time I went headfirst into making an album knowing what it was going to be about, what the 'story' was, and how some of the narrative would play out. But as I start recording more spur-of-the-moment inspirations and start laying down Julee Cruise-esque vocal tracks on some of the songs I've already recorded, I find that more and more it's becoming a vague expression of my own personal fears and insecurities.

And they aren't even played out in an exactly 'clear' fashion. No more of that "I will always love you" or "you are so beautiful" bullshit - now it's all about the twisted creatures crouching in the well lit hallways of my youth - and no matter how long I cowered in the corner, when I looked up it's right fucking next to me. Or the half-dead being, decaying next to me in my bed at night - back turned to me, facing the wall. It's all been just exploding these last few days, these new hyper-visual daydreams. The terror I hoped to capture before with POWERPLANT was almost superficial, more haunted house that actual gut ripping horror. Now I can see the album finally crystalizing into this depiction of the horror at the core of human insecurities - or my own personal insecurities at least.

This is probably coming off as extremely pretentious, but I swear my intentions are honorable. Maybe one day I'll actually finish the album and you'll have a chance to hear what I'm talking about. (lol)