Stream the entire Great Headless Blank EP on NPR Music: http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2015/07/09/417727920/read-the-overwhelming-tragic-story-of-makeunders-great-headless-blank-ep

About Plain Tendency: "I was nearly done recording the EP when I had decided that I needed to add this one. It wasn't planned, and I'm sure it frustrated everyone who wanted the record done sooner, but the story would have felt incomplete if I hadn't. I holed up all alone in my studio for three weeks, working through it with my voice, rewrite after rewrite, through considerable tears. It felt right that the most mournful song would be the barest.

"The inspiration for the song came from watching my father take his last breath at 5:00 a.m., the hospice nurse solemnly informing us that he'd finally reached the end of his suffering. The earth didn't shake. Time didn't stand still. We could hear birds faintly chirping outside as they had before. Death doesn't visit. It's always present. It just happens. It's indifferent.

"After I finished recording the song, I only listened to it two or three more times to check the mix and master. I'd be content to never hear it again."

Plain Tendency

"Inevitable Conclusion" is about a tumultuous and passionate relationship I had with a British woman a month before my father died of lung cancer. Despite the impossible-to-escape connection with her, I had lost myself in the wake of the tragedy, so we had a difficult back-and-forth long distance relationship for a few years. I had always fantasized that the moment I'd come to terms with the grief, I'd immediately join her in London. But when I finally felt ready, she told me she'd fallen for someone else.  --- Hamilton

Credits

HAMILTON ULMER   -   lead vox, guitars, saxophones, synths, drum machines
VAN JACKSON-WEAVER   -   guitars, bass
MATT HOLMES-LINDER   -   guitars
TRAVIS ANDREWS   -   guitars
MARIO GODOY   -   saxophones
KEVIN ROGERS    -   strings
DANIELLE REUTTER-HARRAH   -   backing vocals
ANDREW MEYERSON   -   drums

PRODUCTION - Hamilton Ulmer & Justin Sachs
MIXING -	Hamilton Ulmer & Justin Sachs
MASTERING -	Piper Payne
RECORDED AT -	Studio SQ & Hamilton's project studio
ALBUM ART -	Gabriel Schama




Inevitable Conclusion

Window-Mounted Frigidaire

Far From The Sober West

As heard on All Songs Considered: "The title track of Oakland-based Makeunder's new EP jumps brilliantly with polyrhythms, time shifts and an octave-spanning, soulful falsetto from singer Hamilton Ulmer that's reminiscent of the Dirty Projectors."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2015/04/14/399457829/new-mix-built-to-spill-milk-carton-kids-brown-bird-protomartyr

Great Headless Blank

"What A Lovely Bandsaw", the first single off Makeunder's upcoming second EP, portrays the weekend frontman Hamilton Ulmer sold off his father's belongings and put his childhood home on the market. It takes to an extreme the maximalist bent of Makeunder's earlier work - frenetic and unwaveringly ebullient, the song bounces between radical sonic contexts, as if the listener is one of the strangers & acquaintances rummaging through a family's cherished belongings, looking for a deal. The string that threads the song together is a collection of found percussion - pieces of metal, an old glass bottle, a power drill, a dusty music stand. As the arrangement deepens and the feigned smile widens, the tragedy of the thing reveals itself, leaving only a handful of weary, grieving voices to sing a soft hymn in an empty home.

HAMILTON ULMER -	vox, backing vox, guitars, synths, samples, bass, percussion
DANIELLE REUTTER-HARRAH -	backing vox
AMY FOOTE -	backing vox
VAN JACKSON-WEAVER -	backing vox
TRAVIS ANDREWS -	guitars
MATT LINDER -	guitars
MARIO GODOY -	alto & tenor saxophones
CAROLYN WALTER -	baritone saxophones
ANDREW MEYERSON -	kit

PRODUCTION - 	Hamilton Ulmer & Justin Sachs
MIXING -	Hamilton Ulmer & Justin Sachs
MASTERING -	Piper Payne
RECORDED AT -	Studio SQ & Hamilton's project studio
ALBUM ART -	Gabriel Schama

What A Lovely Bandsaw!

(Full EP out July 24th)

http://www.facebook.com/WeAreMakeunder

As the morn awakes the flowerbed
I stare into the sky
not quite at the sun
And see the satellite radiate

As the midday soaks the concrete porch
I stare at the hummingbird wondering how fast his heart pumps
But I can’t help but feel the weight 
of my own flesh 
as it fades away

But I still see the satellite
And it radiates

As the twilight glows like ember
I stare into your eyes
And feel such warmth
But I can’t see you like I used to.

As I approach my midnight
I stare into the sky
Not quite at the sun
And see the satellite radiate
But my own flesh - 
it fades 
away

Radiate, Satellite

I smell the demilune
These farms used to dance in its fane
Out of the hills the lupines smiled
As the carburetor sang to the swain

And I see the sunrise
we have nothing to our name
And oh how the tank fell empty
But oh how the sky was aflame

It seems like the best thing to do is wait it out
But as we drove across this state my heart intoned
"I can't believe we found this place
And could make this home to raise our own" -
That is, if you love the purple on these hills as I do

What if we bought a little hovel
And I'll work on cars all day?
Follow the geese out to the valley
As the cotton mill sang to the swain

I hear the sunset
The wise old man told us of nil
Improvise this quartet
Like a dicot your mind stood still

It seems like the best thing to do is wait it out
But as we drove across this state my heart intoned
"I can't believe we found this place
And could make this home to raise our own" -
That is, if you love the purple on these hills as I do

As I lay here in my bed
I have no regrets to face
Bring no ceremony with you
As I leave you with some grace

The Purple On These Hills

This town has become a place where no one lives
That won’t last past the year

We should pack our bags
Because I hold nothing
So I fold my arms

When I go please - just spread my ashes
Don’t bring any ceremonial lights or important statues

We should pack our bags
Because I hold nothing
And so I fold my arms

Important Statues

I have a theory
That I could fix anything
If I had the time

I built my own recreational van
With these two hands
And other cars of mine

I have an air compressor
That I wheel out to the ladder
So we can get the house cool again

Though I cannot get on the roof
I am far from the aloof
And I’ll let my son do the job

To The Ladder

Was it a dream?  ‘cause I fell asleep at my wedding
Here we are with our gifts on par with the house

Now that I’m yours to keep
I’ll never play trumpet again

Then she plugged in every electric gift from a friend, I had to get my generator
But it overloaded and the generator explode and knocked my teeth out

Now that I have no teeth
I’ll never play trumpet again

Never again

The long night -
What do I bring to our knot,
When all that I have is my intention?
I am an orphan, at least I feel that way
But it is hard for me to explain

But oh, I’ll never play the trumpet again

The long night
Long after the mystery is spent
And all I have is the fragment of my youth
And all of my innards cry for the solitude I yearn
Well it is hard for me to explain

Oh no - I’ll never play the trumpet again

I'll Never Play The Trumpet Again

TUNES FROM AMERICA'S TIMELESS ART POP BAND.
ORDER GREAT HEADLESS BLANK ON VINYL NOW: 
http://goodeyerecords.bigcartel.com/product/makeunder-great-headless-blank-ep-ger001

Makeunder is an experimental pop band out of Oakland, CA. The members of the group pull together diverse musical influences - from Renaissance motet, to synth pop, R&B, and art rock, to modern orchestral music - to craft large, powerful songs about death & migration & loss, sung with immediacy and fire.

Makeunder

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