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Love how different and nostalgic this is from other Dear Nora projects. Long Distance is my favorite, though I also love Morning Glories. It's a great album to wake up to :)
Favorite track: Long Distance.
Max Tundra
Such an addictive and joyful listen. Incredible songs and vibe. Feels like an old friend, yet a very cool one.
Favorite track: Simulation Feels.
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Includes unlimited streaming of Skulls Example
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.
ships out within 5 days
Purchasable with gift card
$20USDor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
High quality, 150g vinyl LPs in extra heavyweight, full-color photo jackets with two-sided, full color photo & lyric inserts & poly-lined black innersleeves
First pressing of 150 black vinyl LPs sold out
Second pressing of 150 black vinyl LPs shipping now
Includes unlimited streaming of Skulls Example
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Songwriter Katy Davidson (preferred pronoun: they/them) revived the band Dear Nora in January 2017 when Orindal Records reissued the thirteen-year-old album Mountain Rock on vinyl. The reissue received great acclaim and the band toured the west and east coasts last year. Spurred by the momentum, Davidson decided to create the first album of new Dear Nora material in a decade, Skulls Example.
Katy explains:
I wrote the songs on Skulls Example between 2009 and 2017, and recorded most of them during the latter half of 2017. "Skulls Example" is a name I once chose for myself during a party by closing my eyes and picking two words at random from a book of magic.
I tracked most of the basic instruments for each song with my bandmates Zach Burba (bass/synth), Greg Campanile (drums), and Jessica Jones (guitar) at a studio in Portland, Oregon. We used nice microphones, ran audio into a Mackie mixer, then ran stereo audio out of the mixer to a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder. Then I bounced the individual instrument tracks from cassette to Ableton Live on my laptop. Zach overdubbed a lot of the bass and synth tracks remotely from his house in Seattle. I tracked all the vocals and recorded some guitar overdubs in a reverberant empty bedroom in my house in Portland. Engineer Tim Shrout expertly mixed the album on ProTools while I micromanaged.
It has been a decade since I have released new material under the name Dear Nora. The last time I released an album of new material was in 2011 – that was called California Lite and it was under the band name Key Losers. Thematically, California Lite makes sense as an early warm-up to Skulls Example. It’s about freeways, the internet, human connections (and broken connections), and wilderness.
Skulls Example is about how our weird, techno-futuristic present (VR, self-driving cars, drones, Tinder dates, reality TV show government, Starbucks ubiquity, iPhone as extension of human body, Blade Runner -esque income inequality, cryptocurrency “utopias", etc.) juxtaposes so absurdly against the never-ending backdrop of inexorable, ancient elements (fire, ice, wind, storms, mountains, rocks, human instinct, etc) . It’s like we live in multiple realities at once: Now Reality layered upon Ancient Reality, Virtual Reality layered upon Now Reality. The palimpsest creates the illusion of collapsed time.
The album is specifically about humanity. Our capacities and feats are so incredible – we’re godlike – and yet we're scrounging for happiness and basic survival, we're heavily addicted, we just want love, we want family. We’re simultaneously so brilliant and so basic. To me, this feels like the worst and best time to be alive. I experience some level of horror and bliss on a daily basis.
One of the reasons I “retired” Dear Nora ten years ago was because I couldn’t figure out how to navigate financial stability as a full-time songwriter and touring musician. And for the last three years, I’ve worked as a commercial music producer. I enjoy my work, but I constantly think about how I’m contributing to the Massive Capitalistic Garbage Dump of Life. When Trump got elected, I knew it was time to make a new album.
I derived a ton of lyrical inspiration from several recent visits to Oaxaca and Mexico City. I’m fairly obsessed with Mexico’s culture, music, and attitude towards death. I also derived inspiration from the Mojave desert and Oregon’s high desert, places where there are creosote or juniper trees, and fields of ancient lava rock. To me there’s nothing like letting go of my thoughts and being in the dusty, sensual wilderness. Living on Earth feels like pure magic to me and I tried to bring that feeling to this album.
Stylistically, I tried to channel all my favorite songs by Billy Bragg, Leonard Cohen, Gang of Four, Prince, Frank Ocean, Young Marble Giants, Lou Reid, Vangelis, Joni Mitchell, and Enya.
This album would not exist without the extraordinary contributions of my immensely talented collaborators. Thank you.
- Katy Davidson
credits
released May 25, 2018
All songs written by Katy Davidson between 2009-2017
The song “Skulls Example” was co-written by Zach Burba
ASCAP Writer: Kathryn Lloyd Davidson
ASCAP Publisher: Solo Wanderer
Engineered by Katy Davidson with assistance from Zach Burba and Tim Shrout
Produced by Katy Davidson with assistance from Zach Burba
Recorded mostly during summer/autumn 2017, though we tracked some stuff as early as 2013
Basic instruments tracked live to Tascam 4-track cassette at Marmoset
Most vocals and some guitars tracked to Ableton Live at Wooden Resonant
Most bass and synth tracked to Logic at Magic Lanes
Mixed by Tim Shrout
Mastered by Matthew Barnhart
Album design by Jessica Jones
Cover photo by Andrea Zittel
White Fur
lyrics by Katy Davidson and Cynthia Nelson
vocals and rhythm guitar: Katy Davidson
lead guitar: Tom Filardo
bass: Zach Burba
drums: Greg Campanile
Morning Glories
lyrics for "Morning Glories” are from the public domain song “Where The Morning Glories Grow"
vocals and rhythm guitar: Katy Davidson
bass and synth: Zach Burba
New To Me
vocals and guitars: Katy Davidson
bass and synth: Zach Burba
Simulation Feels
vocals and rhythm guitar: Katy Davidson
bass, synth, lead guitar, percussion: Zach Burba
drums: Greg Campanile
Sunset On Humanity
lyrics by Katy Davidson and Franz Prichard
vocals and guitars: Katy Davidson
bass: Zach Burba
drums: Greg Campanile
Anyway
vocals and guitar: Katy Davidson
guitar: Jessica Jones
bass and synth: Zach Burba
Skulls Example
vocals and guitars: Katy Davidson
synth: Zach Burba
Worship The Cactus
vocals and guitars: Katy Davidson
bass: Zach Burba
drums: Greg Campanile
Antidote For Mindlessness
lyrics by Katy Davidson and Cynthia Nelson
vocals and synth: Katy Davidson
lead guitar: Tom Filardo
bass: Chris Sutton
drum programming: Greg Campanile
Black Truck
vocals and guitar: Katy Davidson
bass: Zach Burba
drums: Greg Campanile
Creature Of Habit
vocals and guitar: Katy Davidson
lead guitar: Jessica Jones
bass: Zach Burba
synth: Jessica Dennison
Ancient Plain
vocals: Katy Davidson, Zach Burba, David Longstreth
guitars: Katy Davidson and Jessica Jones
bass and synth: Zach Burba
Long Distance
vocals: Katy Davidson
synth: Zach Burba
Walking In The Hills
vocals and guitar: Katy Davidson
supported by 39 fans who also own “Skulls Example”
i've listened to this album religiously since 2022..something about the whimsy and nostaligia its able to encapsulate in every lyric and song has brought me so much comfort since its release. big thief is like a big warm blanket for your soul. southdadejuke
supported by 36 fans who also own “Skulls Example”
This album makes me feel like I am a small creature venturing through the reeds. It is powerful and efficient and so intricate that each time I listen through I gain a little bit more awareness of the world she has created. Wonderful! Tuesdays Air
The gorgeous and gripping new record from Anika Pyle features minimalist folk & pop songs that struggle to make sense of loss. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 21, 2021
