All right, we're getting there, people.  Yesterday we finally put some instruments on top of Lindsey's lonely drum tracks for "Pigeon Feeder."  I realized this new version is much faster than the original, which I think is an improvement.  I recorded a decent take of the acoustic guitar part in a few tries, then relearned the bass part real quick and played that (got a nice, fat, bassy bass sound, too - hooray for Ampeg!).  Then I relearned the super-simple "guitar solo" on the bridge, and recorded that with some fulltone overdrive and a little tape echo sound courtesy of my Line 6.  And bam, now it sounds more like a song!

Casey's on spring break this week, so I'm going to take Friday off work and devote the day to vocals, which is all that's missing from the final three songs ("The Hunter Surrenders," "Pigeon Feeder," and "Mall of America," from which we'll be using most of the tracks I've already recorded, just remixed by Casey's sure hands on his fancy machine.)  I hope to have Ki record some cello on a couple songs, and then . . . we're done?  Well, then we mix and then we master and then I see if I can afford to press this puppy on vinyl, and then we're done.  So yes, I think I can confidently say this album will be released in 2009, probably late summer or early fall.  Fingers crossed and knocking on wood.  Hopefully it'll be worth the wait.