The Rhythm is a Sadist - This is one of the first songs we wrote together and this is probably the song that got us the most initial attention. I remember vividly when we first wrote it. While we were putting it all together, I knew this was a special one and I knew that Tree and I would be able to write many great songs together. Also, one of my favorite memories about this song is being taken to a very dark and gothic club where our music was frequently spinned. I went, stood in the corner like a complete outcast that didn't belong, and watched people dance to this song and "God's Little Joke". It was really fun to see.
All Imperfect Things – When we first started writing together, Tree brought a book of poetry that he had written. “All Imperfect Things” was one of those poems. I loved it and he agreed to write a song around those words. I had just gotten a new keyboard at the time (Ensoniq ASR 10) and it had the ability to loop samples backwards. Experimenting with this new toy, we came up with the drum tricks you hear. I recall this bass line being especially fun to play and I particularly love the verses and the ending.
Love Like a Loaded Gun - This is the video we made that got shown on MTV. I didn't have cable tv, so could never see it, so a friend recorded it for me and showed me. When writing the song, I remember being very excited about the distorted drum loop and I had fun playing the wa guitar off of Tree's key-string pad sound.
Marionette - Believe it or not, this was supposed to be our "rock" song. Later, it turned into a song that neither of us were particularly fond of and it was therefore left off of the Westcom/Visage version of the cd after they picked it up. The intro is supposed to be a riff from Pinocchio. I had an injury to my nose before we got together to write the song and Tree found it very funny to add the the beginning. This is still not one of my favorites that we've ever done, but I don't mind it anymore. In fact, I particularly enjoy the ending.
Masochist – I love this song so much. This is another poem that I pulled from Tree’s poetry book. We kept the lyrics almost, if not all, intact from his original poem. I remember that he also had a black and white cut out of a woman’s eyes in the top corner of the page. As soon as I read it, I was so impressed and I knew it would be a great song. I pulled out the acoustic guitar and we wrote the song together relatively quickly. At this point, we had written “The Rhythm is a Sadist”, which we both were immediately proud of and though was a “hit”. Then, when we wrote this song, I knew that him and I could do many different things musically and that our individual skills led us to be a very strong writing team. I also remember being so nervous when recording this song. At that point, I had not recorded the acoustic guitar in that style before and did not play to a click track. I remember Tree and Issa encouraging me as I made several mistakes trying to get a complete take. When I finally finished, I wasn’t terribly pleased with the way I played, but they were very kind and made me feel as if I did a good job. So as you can see, I have many great memories associated with this song and it means a lot to me.
The King – We both always loved this song and thought it would be a great single, but it never was released as such, unfortunately. I really loved playing the bass line to this song too.
Losing Control – When we began getting a lot of reviews at the time as sounding like 80’s music, we turned our backs on this song because we felt it definitely sounded like one of our most 80’s sounding songs (New Order). However, I grew to later really love this song. The guitar was fun to play and I love how Tree sings two different melodies on the second verse. And, this is one of the few Arcanum guitar solos!
The Puzzle of Reflection - God, I love this song. The song began after I was playing around programming drums. I got really excited about what they sounded like and Tree came in and wrote the trumpet solo which later became the bridge. He wasn't too thrilled with it at the time, but thankfully I was able to encourage him to turn it into a complete song with me. We discussed what the song should be about, which is something we often did before Tree wrote the lyrics (and was always very interesting and a lot of fun). We decided that the song should be about not being content with your physical appearance - looking in the mirror and not liking what you see - feeling that you're a much different person on the inside, than your outside displays to the world. Of course, this is something we both felt, especially as kids. Then, as I was busy programming stuff, Tree wrote the most beautiful lyrics. Also, I really loved playing the bass on this song too. I know I've said that about a few songs on this cd, but it's true. Later, as random as it sounds now, this song reached #7 in Lithuania (right between David Bowie and Seal songs!).
I Can't Live My Life Like This - I basically left Tree alone to write the song on the piano, then I added the spacey sounds and guitar. The lyrics are so tragic and real and I was very moved by them after Tree read them to me for the first time. The song is very theatrical sounding and sad, but there's something about it that I find uplifting too. Tree is great at writing songs like that.
Running From the Thunder - This is another of the first songs we wrote together. I've always liked the interaction between the keys and guitar (the ending coda which was inspired musically by the Duran Duran's "Sin of the City"). I also love the imagery in Tree's lyrics. Unfortunately, Tree and I disagreed about the mix while in the studio with Issa. Issa agreed with my idea of the mix and 'broke the tie', so to his credit Tree went along, but I think the mix still bothers him to this day!
God's Little Joke - This may be our most aggressive song ever. Certainly, it's our most violent lyrical imagery. I never felt completely comfortable with that, but also didn't want to censor Tree's ideas, so I let it slide. It's original title was "Keep Your Mouth Shut", but I was able to persuade Tree into changing it to a different line he wrote in the song, "God's Little Joke". The guitar in the chorus was influenced by the guitar in Depeche Mode's "Walking In My Shoes". This is another song that was played heavily in the S&M/goth clubs. I remember that a dj did a nice remix of it, but unfortunately I do not have a copy.
Cold Machine - This song is about someone Tree knew. I've always enjoyed the way he sings this song too. I had learned a new programming trick at the time and used it in this song - play and record something rhythmic and fast at a much sped up tempo, roll the tempo back down, then quantize it at that slow tempo. The quantization cuts the end of the notes and creates unusual choppy-rhythmic patterns. I used this with the string pads in this song.
I Love The People That Hurt Me - Tree wrote this about people close to him. There are parts I love about this song, musically, and other parts that make me cringe, to be quite honest. The guitar riff was an intentional play on our "Love Like A Loaded Gun" song, which we had written previous to this one. We considered this song a 'bonus track' on our original self-released version and left it off of the Visage version.
Tilbury Town/Mr. Flood's Party - My favorite author, Edwin Arlington Robinson, inspired this song. "Tilbury Town" is where the characters in many of his poems live. "Mr. Flood's Party" is the name of one of his poems about an old drunkard (which inspired Tree to play the sax the way he did).
No End To The Dark - We recorded this song live in the studio. We had always planned on making a "full band" type recording of this song, but never did. Who knows....maybe that will happen someday......
The Rhythm Is A Sadist (extended version) - This is the original version of the song which has not been previously released outside of our original demos that we began our career with.
Phantasm - We wrote this song after we self-released "The Spoken Scream". When Visage/Westcom later released their version cd, we recorded this and added it as the first song on their version. At the time, we felt it was more contemporary sounding.
Love Like a Loaded Gun (revised version) - When Visage/Westcom was going to release their version of the cd, we agreed to make a "harder" version of this song with me playing live drums on top of the programmed drums.
Mr. Flood - Due to time constraints on the cd after Westcom/Visage released their version of "The Spoken Scream", we cut off "Tilbury Town", but left the instrumental "Mr. Flood's Party" on that version of the cd. For some reason, we decided to cut the word "party" from the title too.
God's Little Joke (extended version) - This has also been previously unreleased outside of the original demos that we passed around when we completed our first recordings.
The cover is from our original self release of the cd. It's from a drawing I did of one of my Grandfather's promotional pictures (he was a drummer during the big band days).
credits
released October 2, 2011
Written and produced by Schieber/Hobrath. Recorded by Issa Diao and Steve Askew at Micro Groove Studios in Atlanta, GA, USA.
On this Bandcamp page, you can purchase music from Brett Schieber, including his solo music, Arcanum (Brett & Tree), &
Prankster. You'll find a couple albums he produced for others, as well. Brett's music for Mark D. Pencil & Friends can also be found on Bandcamp by searching for that name. Thank you for your time, ears, & hearts!...more
The brilliant Sally Dige returns with this sweeping new single that is grand in scope and centered on a radiant chorus. Bandcamp New & Notable May 16, 2022
