Levi Burkle
Langley, Washington, United States
Music
Press
By PATRICIA DUFF
Singer-songwriter Levi Burkle named his new album “Maze” for the challenge it created.
Writing a good song, he said, is often like a labyrinth of obstacles set squarely in the songwriter’s path to make a song better.
“You can’t judge a song before it’s finished,” Burkle said.
“Sometimes you have to find your way around so many walls, you can’t be afraid of trying a lot of different things to find what makes a song work.”
Audiences will be able to hear what makes “Maze” work when Burkle performs in concert at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 14.
The songs from the new album were inspired by the songwriting workshops that Clinton resident Burkle conducted at various King County and Sno-Isle Libraries, and by the lessons of some of his guitar students.
The 15 tunes on “Maze” are unique in style, instrumentation and production and feature accompaniment from a talented bunch of local musicians.
The CD also features colorful and eye-catching cover art by local graphic artist Denis Zimmermann.
Burkle said the album was experimental and forced him to step out of his “box” and see what all these different people could bring to the disc.
“I’ve been working on it for about two years, from writing the songs to producing everything in my bedroom studio,” he said.
Burkle plays almost all the instruments on the album including vocals, drums, bass, guitar, harmonica, keyboard and various sound effects.
But it’s the inspiration from the wider world that makes Burkle shine here as a lyricist and arranger.
“Sometimes people would share thoughts or feelings, sometimes words, sometimes phrases. By the end of the workshop, I would take the jumble of madness and sculpt it into a song. Then it was on to my recording studio to lay down the tracks,” he said.
Indeed, the “Chicken Song,” is a good example of Burkle turning that “jumble” into something unique.
The song was inspired by a library workshop in Carnation that was attended by a fourth-grade class and a group of seniors with Alzheimer’s disease.
The song tells the quirky story of an old lady who loved her colorful chickens. The birds became rock stars and died, but then came back to life. The lyrics reveal the funny, free-association style of imaginative and unhindered children.
Burkle recorded the students singing “I love chicken, baby,” for part of the song’s refrain and then added one of the Alzheimer’s patients ending the song with a tenderly sung verse from “Home on the Range.”
All the songs have that down-home feeling of a connectedness to everyday people and daily life. But there are a few that stand out for a particular quirkiness.
The 31-year-old Burkle wrote “Shout It Out” with two young brothers, Aden and Luca Fallows, who are his students.
Burkle records a mock interview with the Fallows brothers from the premise that they are famous rock stars. The boys do an excellent job of improvising as if they were indeed rock stars with millions of fans. What follows is a Nirvanaesque recording of Burkle singing “Shout It Out,” inspired by the endearing sentiments of Aden and Luca, who dream of a world where people have what they need and boys will rock forever.
Other songs on the disc are not at all quirky but rather catchy, such as the first track entitled “Mirrors,” a pleasantly pop-ish love song in which Burkle pleads for something from his lover beyond the superficial.
Burkle and his student, bass-player Tommy Morgen-Burke, collaborated on the song “Bones,” a soulful riff inspired by the half-true, half-fictitious story of a man traveling a deserted highway to an undetermined destination. Burkle adds a nice touch with the harmonica on the tune, evoking the mournful wail of a man looking for the home that eludes him.
Burkle is happy with the outcome of the CD, and said he was glad to be able to learn what he did from the process. He said he’d like to help other young musicians delve into recording and production and looks forward to the next project.
For now, he just wants to rock the house at the “Maze” release concert and get the album out into the world.
“The tunes are just damn good; something you can feel comfortable connecting to, but different enough to stay interesting,” he said.
“Maze” is available at Joe’s Island Music in Langley and at www.leviburkle.com.
Burkle will be accompanied at the concert by James Hinkley (cello and fiddle), Rachman Ross (drums), Stephan Ross (bass), David Licastro (guitar), Jasper Hayes (guitar and mandolin), Tommy Morgen-Burke (bass), Alec Buchanan (clarinet and sax), Eric Vanderbilt (sax), and Dave Gignac (harmonica).
Tickets cost $15 and are available by calling WICA at 221-8268 or at www.WICAonline.com. - South Whidbey Record
Discography
MAZE - 2009
SFC - 2007
Live - 2004
Orange -2002
Photos
Bio
My Story, the short version
My front door opened to a life of main street and back and fourth, listening to usually hard core rap and country music. When I left for college I entered into a world of parties and weightlifting. One day I decided to pick up my roommates guitar and learn a song. Then I wrote my first song and recorded it in my bedroom. It sounded like crap, but it was really fun! Now I live on an island in the Puget Sound, and I still have a recording studio in my bedroom, which mostly consists of things I’ve purchased on ebay. I love all kinds of music and I want to always experiment with different sounds, so who knows where I’ll end up on the shelf.
My first cd “Orange”, started with a guitar and an 8 track. It has a lot of Jazz, Swing and some Latin, some Folk and some great instrumental. I remember trying to get a photo for the cover, worked all day and nothing. Stopped at a tavern for a pint, took two pictures of the bar in the bar, and just like that I had my cover.
My second album is a “Live” album. The recording comes from a show I put together with my good buddy, at a college I used to go to in Montana. We were sponsored by a winery that gave us many bottles. He was the host, I was the talent. By the end of the show my friend was slurring his thank-you’s into the mic, but the recording came out great! James Hinkley and Mark Hutchinson accompanied me with cello’ and cornet.
Then I was asked to do the music for a film called “The Standard”, a film written and directed by my good friend Jordan Albertsen. I didn’t even have the gear to do this when I said yes, but I took it as an opportunity and bought a whole bunch of stuff. It was the first slice of me recording and producing my own music from riff to cd.
The third album was with my rock band “Spies from China”. My ears just wanted distortion and a loud cymbal, so I put together a power trio and we just rocked it! I lived in a converted chicken coop that was perfect for rehearsals. My good friend Jeff played the bass, and Holton, who was always late for practice, played drums.
My most recent project is the cd “Maze”. It was just released on March 14th, and took about 2 years to complete. It started when someone paid me to give a songwriting workshop at a library. I was a little nervous at first, but just got into the groove when I was put on the spot. The first song came out sounding so cool that I took it into the studio and put it down on tracks. A total of 8 different libraries paid me to give songwriting workshops, all of which are part of this album. The remainder of the tunes come from writing songs with my students. Most musicians have day jobs, luckily for me, my day job is teaching kids to rock out.
What I intend to keep doing with my life is record music and make good art. I want to work with others that are passionate about what they do and like to get things done. I need to create and learn and experiment and find identity without living in a cage. I think that all of us should.
Thank you for listening…
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