Mexico City Toby Burke 2011 - Perfect Black Swan
Limited Edition (100), hand screen-printed & numbered LP.
Includes free download.
Track Listing
Side A:
1. Cantina Crawl
2. The Great Escape
3. Home Is No Place To Go
4. Sentimental Fools
5. Two Roads
Side B:
6. Young For Life
7. A Little War
8. Fight Of My Life
9. I've Been Waiting For You
Listen Now
About
Little more than 12 months after delivering his final (and perhaps best) Horse Stories record - which UNCUT called “very special indeed” in a 4 star review - Toby Burke returns with Mexico City.
A refreshing and atmospheric burst of pure songwriting, amid today’s hyper-produced, digital music landscape. Nine beautiful songs, recorded over a single week, alone in an apartment in Mexico City.
Here’s how Burke himself describes the process that went into creating the haunting Mexico City:
I think every time you set out to make an album (or any piece of art I guess) you take some sort of risk. You have to. This time I took it a step further. Packed what recording gear I could into a bag, grabbed a couple of guitars and set off to Mexico City.
I spent a week in an apartment, alone with a group of new songs I’d never even demo’ed. I’d taken meticulous care preparing each song on the last Horse Stories record and this time I wanted to do the complete opposite. As I sang and played in that big old apartment the songs echoed off the walls and marble floors... and as they went to tape, I was hearing them for the very first time.
I recorded about 16 pieces in all and culled it down to nine for the record. It was a good week’s work.
Like classic field recordings or the best personal demo’s, Mexico City captures a moment in time. An artist in an unfamiliar location, but a comfortable place. The tracks were mixed in mono to tape, in Los Angeles, which the Melbourne-born Burke has called home for most of the last 12 years.
Every footstep, creaking door, nearby car horn and street sound is right there. Blended almost seemlessly with raw, yet melodic songs about family & friendship,
love & loss, fight & flight.
