When Sean Meadows returned home from touring with June of 44 in the summer of 1998, his friend Anne Misawa asked him to score a short film she was working on at USC. Meadows left New York City on his motorcycle without knowing when he would return, and he began to write an album in his head that would eventually take two years to finish. After finishing the film score, Meadows recorded several tracks in L.A. with cellist Jay Villaneuvo, pianist Herb Lucas, and engineer Arnie Saiki. He then set out on an extended trip which included destinations as mundane as Tennessee and Chicago and as exotic as Costa Rica and Italy. While in Catania, Sicily, Meadows recorded with Fred Erskine (June of 44), and Sasha Tilotta (son of Uzeda's Agostino Tilotta and Giovanna Cacciola). Next, he moved on to Pianello Di Ostra, where he recorded with David Lenci
at the control board and Massimo Moscow (Three Second Kiss) on bass. After returning to the U.S., Meadows enlisted friends Jon Theodore (Golden), Enis Sefersah (The Letter E), and David Carmona to help him complete his project.
The result is 2000's long-stretch-motorcycle-hymn-highway, a collection of 11 songs that embody the spirit of aimless wanderings and endless possibility. It's jazzy and soothing, expansive and lovely, like an ocean breeze blowing through the curtains on a warm summer day or the telephone poles whizzing past as you speed down the highway. Meadows has a tremendous sense of space: he knows when to leave it open to possibility, and how and when to fill it. The sparse and simple "555" consists only of an acoustic guitar line punctuated by the sound of a ringing telephone. The multilayered "Once the Ocean Floor" features sensuous rolling bass, splashes of shimmering percussion, bendy guitar, and assorted squiggly electronic, fuzzy ocean, and found sound samples. "Day After the Last," the featured track, is a warm dense summer night song, redolent with cello, jangly guitar, and Meadows's raspily soothing voice. Like many of the songs on the album, it's brief, but Meadows expresses everything he needs to say in less than two minutes.
In addition to long-stretch-motorcycle-hymn-highway, Everlasting the Way has a four song seven-inch single/CDEP on Magic Eye Singles.
Jeanne Acceturo
last updated: 08/16/01
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