Two familiar faces in Eugene’s music scene came together to collaborate on a four track EP they call “The Path.” It wasn’t the duo I ever saw coming, but Mason McClurg of Big Bandit and Jack Carek of EWEB make too much sense on this new release. Out as of May 21, “The Path” combines signature moves of the pair’s solo records — McClurg’s “Collection 1” and Carek’s “Through the Door” — while still throwing in moments that seem refreshingly out of character.
Like I said before, this wasn’t the pair I was expecting, and to a certain extent the pair hadn’t expected it themselves either. To my surprise, the guys tell me that despite both making music in a pretty well connected community, they’ve never so much as jammed together prior to the making of “The Path.”
“Selfishly, I wanted to see how Mason made a record,” Carek said with a laugh. He leans back into the couch and tells me that after listening to McClurg’s “Collection 1,” he sent a simple yet ambitious text that read, “hey let’s make an EP” and the rest is history.
Seeing how they could work together quickly to complete the steps of making a record was really the experiment. They explain that they both take much longer to write songs on their solo records, so they dove into recording to explore the benefits of putting two heads together.
“It was a lot easier to write songs with two people where the other will identify for you what a terrible idea looks like and you can stop it right at the source,” McClurg said. “That’s something that I think takes a lot longer in solo music because it takes you a while to realize something is a bad idea, and then you end up getting a little married to it.”
So, the writing was quick. They spent about two to three weeks writing the songs together, meeting somewhere around three times a week prior to mixing.
Exactly one month after they sat down at the drawing board, the record was complete and was sent off for mastering.
“Working together there were a lot of subtle things we both picked up on that I can definitely see us recycling,” McClurg said. “At the very least, we were exposed to another way to think of recording and mixing — even playing. We added tools to our arsenal, y’know?”
Starting off with the single “Holding On,” the new perspectives each musician gained are tangible and fresh. The song begins bright and reminds me of summer. It makes me want to finally invest in a bike, tie some flowers to it and eat a popsicle while I ride down Hilyard Street. You know the vibe. The highlight of the track is easily the Derek and The Dominos’-esque outro which feeds perfectly into the title track.
“Holding on” feels just like a Drugdealer song where McClurg is Michael Collins and Carek is Michael Long. I’m riding its “The End of Comedy” wave until it shakes the Drugdealer thing about a third of the way through and morphs into a synergy of their solo stuff. After getting familiar with their individual albums, it’s fun to see moments where the feeling of one will shine through in the EP and compliment it.
Next up is my favorite track on “The Path” called “Bad News.” The vocal harmonies on the EP reach their peak on this song, and the groovy guitar and maraca section they have going on here begs the question: Why the hell haven’t these two ever jammed before?
The EP closes off with “Without Time,” which has some really cool layering moments and bookends the whole thing nicely — giving it a definitive feeling of finish.
This collaboration came out of nowhere, and it brings together the best parts of two worlds I never thought I’d see merge. Though I’m not sure if we’ll ever see a fabled Big Bandit/EWEB super show, I’m hoping that we’ll see some more teamwork from McClurg and Carek in the future.
