“Timbre” is now out on all streaming platforms. Art by Zack Ogulnick. Layout & design by Matt Goff.
We’re proud to announce that “Timbre” is now available on all streaming platforms!
Recorded in a converted home in Big Sur by Ky Takikawa (Moon Dog and the Astral Cats) and mastered by Adrian Dolan (The Wailin’ Jennys), “Timbre” is the first of three singles off our upcoming album, Plant It or Build It.
It’s our streaming debut - we hope you enjoy what you hear and can help us spread the word!
All the love,
Late for the Train
Here’s a little backstory about the song:
It was an unexpectedly cold and snowy late-May night in the mountains outside of Lassen National Park when “Timbre” was born of a quarrel and the heavy silence that grew from it. Dave and Laura were teaching at a songwriting festival put on by the illustrious Antsy McClain, but Dave was sick as a dog and Laura was catching it too. As such, we were quarantined in a summer-camp infirmary cabin built for kids: tin roof, drafty floorboards, open-air windows, and no electricity. In short, built for balmy summer evenings, not the storm that ensued.
It wasn’t long before unexpected weather rolled in. First rain, then snow dripped through the screwed together sheets of tin. We got into an argument, which soon became a stand off of wills. Each refused to break the silence, and the silence became quite thick…
…which brings us to the song title. What is timbre? Well, let's start with the concrete and make our way to the abstract: to borrow from Merriam-Webster, the word timbre "generally refers to the quality of a sound made by a particular voice or musical instrument." Sounds are unique. They all have their own quality; when a trumpet and a violin each play the same note (pitch), they still sound different because each one has its own timbre. You could even say that silences have their own timbre. To us at least, this one did. The silence during our argument was LOUD. It was heavy. Knotted. Fierce.
As you might expect, the silence eventually broke, and we were both the wiser for it. We each admitted our stubbornness, remembered some humility, and learned new things about ourselves and each other. (Funny thing about arguments: they're actually great for personal growth when you can work through them.) We had a pretty wonderful rest of the weekend and decided to write our experience into song as a nudge to ourselves to not fight about the same thing twice. Each time we sing it together, we get to smile about it now too.
Some of us are getting A LOT of time with our loved ones right now, and that can be hard. We hope this song can be a reminder to treat each other kindly and gently during these scary times. Sometimes a little bit of silence is a great thing. But if the timbre of that silence turns dark, try to take a breath, open up, and speak into it.