‘Marilyn’ from Cal Kehoe, with Tom Marshall, is light, airy and a pleasant thing to have stuck between your ears. I mean that in a good way, the chorus is a bit of an earworm. At face value, the video and music elegant and emotional, but dig a little bit deeper and listeners will find that the creation of this piece makes it more even more spine-tinglingly good. The production quality is top notch. The song moves effortlessly, making it a great piece of work to add their resume. Before we get into the music itself, there’s a small history lesson to be learned first.
The song was conceived by Cal Kehoe, Tom Marshall, Anthony Krizan of the Spin Doctors and independent artist Sherman Ewing. Kehoe says this is the second song a series of tracks that he collaborated on. He will be releasing more tracks over the course of the next few months. Kehoe spoke about the tracks and video’s conception.
Tom and I met at Madison Square Garden at a Phish show in 2009. We began talking about music, favorite guitar players, favorite Phish songs, etc. I stayed in touch with Tom and we became friends . Last year, I was playing a VIP side stage in Hartford, CT where Phish was performing and Tom came to see my band. He was impressed enough with my guitar work and vocals that he offered to work with me on some original compositions.
I wrote music for 5 or 6 different songs, until one finally resonated with Tom. That song became “Limbo”, which was loosely based on the Netflix series, “Stranger Things.” During the collaborative process, Tom sent me an unfinished demo he had written with Anthony Krizan and Sherman Ewing. I began to write and work with Tom on the demo he sent and that song evolved into the final product – “Marilyn”. From there, Tom and I went down to Anthony Krizan’s studio in New Jersey and began recording some vocals and guitar. Tom and his daughter Anna Marshall appear as the background singers on the song “Marilyn”.
We completed the recording at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT with Greg Giorgio (mixing, production for The National, Trey Anastasio, Kurt Vile, etc.) with the help of Rob Allen (formerly of Augustines) on drums and Crispin Cioe (the Uptown Horns, Rolling Stones) on saxophone.
It’s an incredible thing when musicians of different strokes come together and create a beautiful piece of music. The song is truly beautiful and the video footage accompanying the track further proves that point. Dancers grace the stage and perform an elegant routine that matches perfectly with the songs tone.
The song somewhat differs from his prior work, although there are still traces of his earlier characteristics. It’s jammy with some rock feel but this track leans more towards easy-listening elements. It boasts some sultry saxophone, open chords on an acoustic guitar in the background and one of the catchiest chorus riffs you’ll hear. Most impressive is his guitar solo in this track and across most of his tracks. Every note is logical and fitting for the style, even though it seems he’s trying to break into a scene that thrives off of ten minute guitar solos. He stays humble, wails high up on the fret board for a few bars and backs off. It’s perfect for the genre and revealing in its modesty.
It seems he’s found a great group of artists that he works well with and initial signs show it’s going to really pay off. Keep track of his newest releases on his YouTube channel, personal page and Facebook page.
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But what’s even more interesting is the inspiration behind their new album that will hit the market Sept.29. The collection will be called The Desaturating Seven and it’s inspired by an Italian children’s book Les Claypool read his own kin years ago called Rainbow Goblins. So far, the public has only been graced with a single call “The Seven” (video link below) which holds a very promising tone and attitude. It’s synonymous with “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver” according to Claypool and retains that classic Primus sound coupled with dramatic shifts in tempo and time signatures.