Scarlet Goodbye has a new album (El Camino Adios) coming out March 14. It’s thoughtful storytelling that feels like shared memories with a soundtrack that seeps into your skin in a comforting way. You can see them live on March 14 at the new Aster House. Big thanks to Dan Muphy (half of Scarlet Goodbye with Jeff Arundel) for some great answers below.
How was it for you to work together on the second album? Both of you have released plenty of music – but how is it to plan for an album during “normal” times when your original began during the pandemic, which was such a unique time? The logistics alone must be night and day.
It was maybe a little easier this time around? We never really took a very long break after the release and shows of Hope’s Eternal. Jeff and I started writing material right away. For the first recording of new material we went to a recording studio on Nicollet Avenue called Creation Audio, as we wanted to see what it would be like to record away from the familiarity of Jeff’s attic studio where we had recorded everything up until that point. We quickly decided to abandon that experiment and go back to the attic with what had worked so well in the past. The song Sad Burlesque is from this first recording session at Creation – recorded likely in fall of 2023? Really the most important aspect of having such a great space to write and record in is that it allows us to record the songs with the band right as they are being written and taking their initial shape and form. Typically we only have sparse lyric ideas and a few vocal melodies when we go in and record with the band, we do whatever editing is needed as the song verses get longer or shorter and as the writing is flushed out. But recording a song as it is fresh and new really is the secret sauce in all things Scarlet Goodbye.
There’ s a bittersweet nostalgia running through the album. Like the line from The End of Summer, it’s as if “time is like a jet plane delayed at the gate.” It’s a time to reflect on a Speedway date, Sad Burlesque or The Last Time. It’s time to anticipate the flight ahead.
Jeff and I found as we were writing this record a recurring theme appeared in many if not all of the tracks, which has indeed changed. The title El Camino Adios is based on leaving a mythical town in this instance El Camino behind and forging ahead with the insecurities and possible regrets that this can bring. It seems like one of the constants in life is change.
And it’s a time to take stock in the spectrum of our time and when we cross the line of more memories behind us than ahead. Do you think that nostalgia comes from the era we’re in, the ages you are (and I’m darned close) and/or something more personal?
Question number three really asks on many levels. Writing is cathartic for me, as I write I want the songs to be heard by others and want people to connect with the lyrics and ideas and words. That said I would probably still write music and words if the target audience was one and only myself? I find it hard to write words in this very exact now spectrum of time. I am not sure if I could ever write a compelling protest song? But damn is it tempting to try. When I think of the word nostalgia I think of it being sweet and filled with good memories and comfort? I think the Scarlet Goodbye is more jarring than nostalgic? Not really longing for what has already happened but trying to place what has happened in a space that allows one to continue along the spectrum of time?
You start the album with an instrumental song, when you both are such creative and clever lyricists. I like it; I think it’s a bold way to get people to pay attention to both the music and the words. How and why did you decide to do that?
My god Ann, the song sequence on the playlist we sent out to writers somehow re-sorted itself alphabetically. We just found this out so thank you for mentioning our boldness here as we will correct this stat!
To Feel the Sun is one of the most joyful sounding songs on the album. Makes me wonder where do you each go or what do you do to feel the sun?
Thank you Ann, Jeff wrote the music. It was such a fun track to record. We recorded it a few months ago and it was the last song we worked on completing for the record. Pat Frederick played a bombastic piano track on this one that really set the mood. To Feel The Sun is a metaphor for enlightenment. In this song the singers Jeff and I are on the outs with the concept… The first line “Where do you go – When I feel so lonely? To a place somewhere you can feel the sun.” Expresses jealousy and a sort of contempt that someone you know well other than yourself has figured out and solved some of the complex riddles of life and found an impenetrable place of contentment and bliss with you outside still trying to get in? Guys like to bitch about stuff Ann, that much is true…🥹
Please tell us about the album release shows.
We are playing a record release show March 14 at the new Aster House on main street which will also be the grand opening of the music portion of the supper club. We will be playing shows all summer and fall and are looking into the possibility of touring England and Scotland with the Scottish band Overhaul.
Mostly Minnesota 