An exclusive download for our Kickstarter backers. A collection of recordings from 2010 – 2012 of voice memos, rehearsal recordings, and studio demos leading up to the recording of Aloud's fourth LP, It's Got To Be Now. Also includes demos for two unreleased songs, "Edge City" and "(I Just Want) To Be Free".

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A long time ago, before Aloud was Aloud, teenaged facsimiles of Jen and Henry set out to begin and complete a full-length record in the span of 24 hours using a TASCAM 4-track machine, a passable drummer, Radio Shack microphones, and a half-eaten tin of Pringles (don’t ask). Looking back on this experience, the idea was nearly as foolish as actually distributing the subpar results to friends, family, and anyone willing to fork over $5 USD. Several years later, as I was asking a dear friend to destroy the evidence, she told me—in no uncertain terms—that she would do no such thing. “Look at it this way,” I remember her telling me, “you’ve frozen your learning curve.” (Also: blackmail.)

So here we are, a good 14 years after the release of an “album” we’d rather forget and two months ahead of the release of one we couldn’t be prouder of, foolishly circulating another learning curve on ice.

The tunes in this collection were culled from a variety of sources ranging from voice memos recorded in the blink of an eye to demos at our rehearsal space that took days to arrange.

Though the songs here are in various stages of completion and rife with imperfections, bum notes, bad ideas, and mouth noises that are downright puzzling, we hope they give you a deeper appreciation of the long road to It’s Got To Be Now and how your support truly helped us cross the finish line on this one. As ever: thank you for listening.

To anyone who still owns a copy of Our Expensive Hobby, please destroy it immediately.

Cheers,
Henry

February 16, 2014