Dusk and Summer
Dusk and Summer is the fourth studio album by American rock band Dashboard Confessional.
Dusk and Summer
June 27, 2006
April 2005 – March 2006
- NRG
- Avatar
- Pilot
- Mission Sound
- Quad Studios
- The Loft
- La Bella Vista
40:36
Don Gilmore, Daniel Lanois
Background[edit]
With the release of A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar (2003), Dashboard Confessional solidified its line-up of vocalist/guitarist Chris Carrabba, bassist Scott Schoenbeck, guitarist John Lefler and drummer Mike Marsh.[1] The album charted at number two on the Billboard 200[2] and its single "Hands Down" reached number eight on the Alternative Songs chart.[3] The group contributed the track "Vindicated", which was produced by Don Gilmore, to the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack[4] released in June 2004.[5] Later that month, a live recording of a new track "So Long, So Long" appeared on the group's website.[6] The track marked a change from their past work as it included a piano.[7] Carrabba said the next album would be a piano-driven effort with contributions from the other members.[8] Following this, Carrabba spent the rest of the summer writing material for a new album.[5]
In December, the group got together and played through the songs they had. Though Carrabba considered a lot of it unsatisfactory, he figured out the vibe for the next album: "I have this passionate desire to sort of explore space ... [as opposed to] compounding everything into these driving parts."[9] In February 2005, Carrabba scrapped an album's worth of songs as he felt they were too safe: "[F]ans probably would have liked those songs. And people who weren't would have had the same complaints as ever."[10] Carrabba spent two weeks in Florida[10] making several batches of demos[11] of over 30 songs.[12] He rediscovered the material he had written for his previous bands Further Seems Forever and The Vacant Andies, and decided to write tracks that combined elements from them and Dashboard.[8] After another four weeks, he had written a whole new album.[8]
Production[edit]
Through a mutual friend, some of the demos ended up in the hands of producer Daniel Lanois. The demos inspired him to come out of retirement, which he had been in since working on All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000) by U2. Despite having already having plans to record, Carrabba was invited to Jamaica, where Lanois was, to discuss the songs. He flew out and the pair spent a week talking about songs. A day after returning home, Lanois was interested in producing the album.[13] In April, the group worked with Lanois[14] and recorded 20 songs. Half of them at Lanois' home in Toronto, Canada, and the other half at Lanois' other home in Silver Lake, California.[12] Sessions also took place at NRG, Avatar, Pilot, Mission Sound, Quad Studios, The Loft and La Bella Vista. Mark Kiczula acted as the main engineer with assistance from Jim Keller, Chad Lupo, Guiliano Baglioni, Roberto Fulps and Matt Shane. Additional engineering was done by Fox Phelps, Adam Samuels and Daniel Mendez.[15]
Carrabba experimented with a variety of instruments from mandolins to metal flowers pots that substituted as drums.[12] At the end of the month, Carrabba went on a solo tour of colleges and debuted some of the new songs.[8] In September, the group supported U2 on their North American tour.[16] In between these support dates, the group performed a few club shows. Prior to starting the tour, Carrabba said the album required mixing.[12] Despite this, material was still being recorded up to January 2006.[17] Lanois left the project; Carrabba wanted to record another track, at which point Gilmore was brought in. Carrabba subsequently went on a song writing binge, creating six songs across four days.[18] Sometime afterwards, Carrabba decided to rework the Lanois-produced material with Gilmore, while retaining some of Lanois' contributions.[4] In March, Gilmore and Carrabba recorded an album's worth of songs.[13]
Gilmore is credited as producing the majority of the album, with the exception of "Heaven Here" which is credited to him and Lanois. Lanois also received a producer credit for the vocals on "Reason to Believe".[15] Marsh said that due to the structure of the songs and melodies, the recording process give him a "great opportunity to create space."[19] Andy Wallace mixed all of the album, except for "Don't Wait" (mixed by Gilmore), at Soundtrack Studios in New York City. He was aided by Pro Tools engineer John O'Mahony and assisted by Mike Scielzi, Paul Suarez ad Jan Petrov. Ted Jensen mastered the recordings at Sterling Sound. Adam Duritz of Counting Crows provided additional vocals on "So Long, So Long", while Susan Sherouse contributed violin and vocals.[15] Carrabba had met Duritz while the pair were playing at a benefit concert.[17]
Composition[edit]
Discussing the album title, Carrabba and his family used to drive an hour and sit on a beach. Eventually, he "just kept finding myself back there, finding inspiration."[20] Musically, Dusk and Summer has been described as arena rock,[21][22]pop rock[23] and emo[24] channelling the guitarwork of U2 guitarist the Edge,[21] and the vocal wailing of the Cure frontman Robert Smith.[25] The song arrangements build on the rock sound of A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar[26] and Carrabba's former band Further Seems Forever,[27] incorporating more piano and violin parts,[28] recalling the work of Coldplay and Journey.[29] The Sixpence None the Richer-esque track "Don't Wait"[30] was written in a dressing room on the U2 tour. It was completed in a few minutes; he said it talked about "seizing and acting on what you dream, not just dreaming about it."[17] "Stolen" tackles the theme of unrequited love, while "So Long, So Long" is a piano-centric track about leaving one's hometown.[28][31] "Slow Decay" is about a soldier readjusting to home life after returning from war. It was based on two friends of Carrabba's and a third person, who he witnessed on 60 Minutes.[20] His vocal was noted as being reminiscent of My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way.[22] "Dusk and Summer" was written at the eleventh hour and summarised all of the parts of the album;[18] it recalled the group's earlier material.[22] "Heaven Here" wasn't intended for inclusion on the record until Lanois heard it and convinced Carrabba to write lyrics for it.[32]