Nothing Left to do but Sin (2015) – Full Album.

Released October 24, 2015
Written, performed and recorded by Jake Dudas
© 2008 ℗ 2015 Jake Dudas (SOCAN). All rights reserved. 100% MAPL.
Mastered by Andy Krehm at Silverbirch Productions

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Some notes about the album.

There truly is no rhyme or reason as to how creative projects come to life.

I started working on this particular collection of songs in 2008 while still in full swing with Monster America. They started out as demos for new songs following the release of Dirty Kings (2009). A lot of interesting things were going on at the time, both in the world at large, and in my life personally.

Everything about these songs, the writing and recording of them, was very off the cuff. Fate would have it that things would come to mind, a guitar was in hand, and all the gear was set up to record. It was like that for about three months. A vocal idea would come to mind, and I go record it. There was no particular plan. Just exploring, finding something that felt right, then getting it down. I was simply looking for solid ideas to bring to the band.

I took the same approach with the guitar solos. I’d find the first tone that worked. Keep doing takes until one of them clicked, then move on to the next. There’s a real freedom when there’s no specific intention behind something, and in retrospect, I think that’s the very quality that I like most about this recording.

When my work with Monster America slowed down in 2010, I began other pursuits. These songs, in their roughest of states, sat dormant on the iPod. It wasn’t until late one night in 2013 that I listened to them again.

It’s funny, there are so many things that bother me from a technical perspective about this recording. In revisiting the songs, I tried redoing vocal parts, getting new guitar sounds that were cleaner… All sorts of things–each of which served only to take away from what I liked about it. From my perspective, there’s a messy charm about each of the songs that takes me back to the moment I performed it. I can almost taste it. In finishing the project, I added the most minimal of guitars and keyboards to move each song along, leaving the bones of everything as initially performed.

Lyrically, I liken this music to sitting in the psychiatrist’s couch. Yours. Mine. And ours collectively. We find ourselves at points in our lives where–despite our greatest efforts–tragedy, loss and struggle inevitably hunt us down in the most unexpected ways. You question your values, efforts and faith. It feels like there’s nothing left to do but sin.

Far from being negative, Nothing Left to do but Sin is about identifying and wrestling these dilemmas to the ground. It’s about hope and insight in the face of struggle and change. We all struggle. We all get through it. We can all be better for it.

I sincerely hope you enjoy it.

Jake Dudas, Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter

All photography by Sue Morley Photography