As some of you who follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Reverbnation may be aware, I'm recording a musical version of Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven." Unlike previous Legend's Ghost recordings, this one will use only real instruments and no VSTs.

I didn't want just another spooky piece with an organ. Much as I love organs, I didn't think I needed to channel my inner 1930s radio theater director and summon the spookiness with the perfectly placed but now cliché C minor organ chord. I decided to imagine what an 18th century radio theater director would have done if such a person had had the opportunity to exist and use a harpsichord!


Yes, that is an i-Pad. This time traveling 18th century radio drama director using a 19th century poets work needed a touch of her own century as well...or at least she brought along a harpsichordist who apparently needed one.

So I called up my friend Jilly Comrie (you may recognize her name from the Gatekeepers album. She was one of the pianists...and half of the Songweaver character!) and asked if she had any desire to play a real, live harpsichord for Edgar Allen Poe. And luckily, she did. (Mr. Poe mysteriously didn't show up for the recording. Not entirely sure why)


So, after a few phone calls, we got to record with this beautiful instrument in the National Symphony Orchestra of Ecuador's rehearsal hall/office building. (Note to anyone who works there: if you find evidence someone has started living in your building, it's probably me. I just loved being in there so much! It's so beautiful!)


Photos by Diego Alexis Jarrin de la Torre, who also was our sound engineer that day!

Here's a video:

Next step: bass drum...and GLOCKENSPIEL!