Origin

This was originally a song written by Nathan Hutson, whose ad for a guitar player I responded when I arrived in Austin, Texas in the fall of 1997.  He was the bass player and he and his drummer Josh Wardrip were jamming in Nathan’s garage — there was a singer involved originally but he faded out so I was thrust into singing for a while.  This song was almost completely written when I met Nathan, and was among the first songs we collaborated on.  I simply added the melody and lyrics, and it has been unchanged since.

Music & Production

“Web” is a versatile song that can be held back quite a bit to become a quiet folk song, but here we approached it close to the original vision of being a slow yet heavy sound.  Nathan, being a bass player, was really good at building a fresh-sounding music from his instrument and this song is a good showcase of that — the 4-note main hook/riff and the whole bridge section (where cello is doubling bass) is all Nathan’s handy work.

Lyrics

In 2014 I would not write these lyrics.  But this one I didn’t really try to change — it’s been with me for years and it’s always worked for me, despite its untidiness.  I wonder if vagueness and lack of cohesion may be the reason why it doesn’t get old for me.

See you sent through the air
Will you grab him for thirty seconds
Will he find you in there
Or should I have put you in the ads?

Only talk through the wire
And erase your voice on the phone
You don’t have to find a cure
‘Cause you’ve hidden the honest scene

But you still make the call
Can you see beyond these lines?
Come on the roof of this big hall
I hear you scream alone in the rain

Come to the light
Of this cold and dark ice face
And forget about the taste
Of the blood behind the voice

So you cancel the fair
Want to be close but stay so far
And he won’t see a drop of tear
It is there but hidden by your war

But you still make the call
Can you see beyond these lines?
Come on the roof of this big hall
We’ll cry to the world alone when it rains

Written by Nathan Hutson and Ari Koinuma
Cover photo: “Firework 1 1” by kevinmood