Here are James and Elliott's thoughts on The Goodnight EP.
Track 1
"Fever Party"
"In a dingy worn out roadside bar, a small gathering of hammered patrons stand drinking away their afflictions. Conversing in a humming cloud of stale cigarette smoke, rowdy with alcohol and anticipation, the crowd awaits the band to begin. When the blues trio abruptly breaks into a driving acoustic-harmonica blues, a goofy euphoric chaos settles over the crowd as they begin to hoot, holler, and throw their near empty beverage containers at any convenient surface. The music progresses and the rowdy noise generated by the audience wraps itself around the music played by the band. The hooligans are out front on the floor, flailing their limbs into the air and shaking as their eyes roll back into their heads. The singer of the band chants over and over "I got a bad, bad feeling coming on in my head." Just as the band breaks stride and the energy peaks, the lights and sound begin to fade. Everything appears to be moving in a hazy drunken slow motion and soon everything is dark and silent." –James
"I think this is a pretty silly song to begin the EP with (because it doesn't have much aesthetical compatibility with the other tracks), but it's ultimately autobiographically meaningful for both James and I--the reason being that both of us were horribly sick leading up to and during the writing and recording of these songs. I spent a few days prior to the recording session, namely New Year's Eve, in a friend's bed, shivering, sweating and straight up fever partying. For this song, I wanted to represent this chaotic feeling (comically), while also incorporating the collective and celebratory vibe of Dylan's "Rainy Day Women 12 and 35" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWdJ_dvdGjs). One could argue for this track's conceptual compatibility with the other songs by claiming that it represents the originary fever which opens up the space for the dream sequence that follows." – Elliott
Track 2
"Victoria's Dreaming"
"The lights slowly brighten and the interior of a large cathedral-like concert hall becomes visible. Slow deep sleepy organ music is being played on the stage at the opposite end of the long hall. Behind the keys of the music's source sits a small young woman, hunched over and not breathing, apparently lifeless. The keys of the organ are moving themselves, depressing and then rising in patterns that recognizably follow the path of the music. The woman's wilting and lazy body, whose skin is still strangely lush and healthy, suddenly swells and sinks; responds to the necessity of breath. This startling sign of life at once provokes the contemplation of the subject of her dreams. Is it you, listener? Or is it deep, empty, black sleep? An audience whose presence has until now gone undetected sits captivated by the sounds being produced at the lifeless hands of the young woman. The music draws to a close and everyone files out of the hall." – James
"The idea for this song has been in my head since I saw Beach House (http://www.myspace.com/beachhousemusic) last summer. As the title might suggest, this song is a tribute to ½ of Beach House, namely Victoria Legrand. During their show I became fascinated with her stage presence and the overall aesthetic of the set. It seemed as if she were leading the audience, or at least me, on some sort of strange dream-procession that I was very happy to be part of. Some of the lyrics, namely two of the verses, to this song are cut-ups from Beach House lyrics (NOTE: the lyrics to all the songs are posted, just click on the "lyrics" tab on the myspace player). This is my way of paying homage to a band that made me feel an interesting feeling (total trance enhancement). Also, if you pay close attention, you'll notice that I steal a vocal harmony from Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5H0wUo37RY).– Elliott
Track 3
"Sugar Screams (Quiet Dreams)"
"Her goal was to stay awake as long as humanly possible, safe from the wounds of doom that haunted her wherever she slept. For months, vivid nightmares had been a regular occurrence. Subconscious visions of death, tragedy, and fear had become all too familiar and now each time she so much as glimpsed at her empty inviting bed, she would feel a groggy, self induced, rush of adrenaline; her body's fight response to the possibility of sleep and the horror that it would promise. After three days without sleep the inevitable was laid out before her; she knew she could only hold out for so long. Finally, while listening to her favorite mix cd and surrounded by a litany of empty coffee cups, soda cans, and empty packages of pills, her eyes fluttered shut and she submitted with no choice but to sleep the pain." – James
"James did most of the music to this song, most notably that killer shoegaze tone. Other than the lyrics and vocals, I think I did just one of the guitar parts. This song sounds like the song I've always wanted to make and what I've always wanted a band to which I belong to sound like (Am I living my dream?). When James first played me the central guitar skeleton to this track, the influences were obvious. So, I felt it my responsibility to directly incorporate those references into the song through the lyrics. The lyrics are cut-ups of lyrics, and titles of songs, by Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine." – Elliott
Track 4
"Anna Escape"
"A voice from above is heard, "Attention shoppers, pickled herring is on sale for 99 cents while supplies last, thank you for shopping at ValueMart", the voice disappears and is replaced by a cheesy imitation version of "Copacabana". A crowded supermarket surging with bustling weekend traffic becomes visible. Near the front of the store customers file into ordered lines waiting to be processed and charged for their purchases. At the terminal point of one line in particular, a middle aged male clerk is feverishly moving to scan and bag an endless queue of cereal, soda, and bread all the while wondering how at this stage of his life he ended up in this living hell hole. Eerily and without warning, the store's background music increases sharply in volume and a new song begins to fill the space. The loud anthemic song whose singer is belting "I'll get away, I'll get away" is causing all customers to look up at the ceiling and around at each other. The clerk tries to continue his routine duties scanning cartons of eggs, weighing stalks of broccoli, and handing out receipts as if nothing strange is happening, but, the music has planted within him a small rapidly growing seed of rebellion. In an instant, he instinctively drops a carton of chocolate pudding on the floor, rips off his clothes and charges out of the automatic opening doors. He is running for the hills. When he reaches the edge of town he encounters others who are running naked and partially clothed, they form a group, they are all heading for the hills." – James
"This song is for Anna Akhmatova (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Akhmatova). I imagine this song to be what one of her good dreams would look like—a dream in which she gets the hell out of Leningrad—flying over the city on some sort of magic cloud, or climbing up some sort of dream-rope made of the words she writes before going to sleep. The two bridges in the song consist of lines taken from her most excellent poem, which I've loved since I first read it several years ago, called Requiem (http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/akhmatova/requiem.html). I think the combination of James' pop-sensibilities and my darker aesthetic works out swimmingly on this track. This song has liberation living all over it. James—can we please sell this for use in a cruise line/travel commercial?" – Elliott