What I want to share with you today is something I am extremely proud of.

***

In June of 2008, I was in transition.  My previous musical outlet was beginning to collapse in on itself, and I was writing songs that felt unfamiliar to me.  My friend Cameron sensed that in me, and being the good man that he is, urged me to follow that path - to begin a new project, to let the dark territory of these new songs see air and sunlight, and to not be afraid to take a chance on something new.

We began to make a record that winter.  We started it in the living room of the house his brother shared with this guy, and we finished it in a small closet under the stairs in his mother’s house.  In the course of that one year, life happened: I began a new job, bought a house, started this blog.  We wrote a song for Daughtry that I’m still not 100% sure wasn’t a joke; we also began a friendship and a musical partnership that I’m blessed to be a part of.

This last spring, as we began to look at seriously releasing some of this music, we decided that we needed another voice on it.  That led us to Rachel Higuera, who is prodigious and a friend.  She is now my full-time songwriting partner.

We decided to give it a name, and that name was Northern District.

From the start, it was a product of community.  Many excellent friends were a part of this EP taking shape:  Eric Watson played all the bass tracks in one afternoon, for the price of a couple of tacos; Jonathan Meek played trumpet; Aaron DiMauro, our friend in Texas, played drums and made loops.  Chris Pedro, who has been my support system and closest friend for the past two years, mixed and mastered it.  On one track, you can hear Jason Kleist doing dishes in the background; on another, we put together a small choir of friends to sing, a group that may or may not have included Cameron’s mother.  When I listen back to these six songs, I hear a cloud of people becoming tightly wound together.  I can’t wait to start a new record with this cloud.

***

I wanted you guys to hear this song first, because I began it precisely one year ago to this date, December 28th, 2008.  I was forced to face the remote spaces that are left in our lives when loved ones come and go;  I was enticed by the reliability and presence that a train has, and I spent an afternoon sketching this obsession out.

I played it for Cameron, and we immediately began recording it, and it wasn’t long before it had a certain vibe attached to it.  Whenever anyone came by to visit us, this is the song we’d play for them.

***

I am unaware if Aaron actually strapped chains to his bass drum.  He is a mystery to us.

***

The train just passed
The rails are still warm and the air smells like coal
The train just passed
It left nothing behind but a big train-sized hole

Let the station lights stutter and darken
That train will soon come back to end what it started
Its track is like a figure eight

The train just passed
There’s a black cloud that’s thinning and it tugs at our veins
The train just passed
There’s a catch in our voices that we can not explain

You can leave your coat on the rail of the freighter
It will still be there when you come for it later
Sometimes early, never late

The train just passed
It bought me a beer and it pulled out of town
The train just passed
The bed is still warm and there’s clothes on the ground

You were standing there in my favorite sweater
You said your hands felt cold and you gave me a letter
I’ll save it for the car ride home

***

Northern District’s self-titled EP will be released both digitally and hand-stamped in the middle of January.  There will be a release party, and you’re all invited.  There are six songs on the EP.

Please share this song with your friends and neighbors, and let the good word of Northern District seep into the ground and blossom into something bigger.

(click to download)