Please Rise

David Wesson first met Devin Martin in 2000 at a bar in Mission Hill (Boston), Ma. They were introduced by their mutual friend, Anthony Schwartzman. Anthony had a premonition that David and Devin should meet because they both shared an interest in music and transformation. Though David and Devin were radically different personalities, Devin with his rock-hard Zen clarity and David with his wild and reckless inspiration, they instantly saw eye to eye. Devin soon brought his guitar over to David's place in Somerville. They never played a cover song. Devin picked up his guitar and said, 'let's just write something' and started strumming chords. The result was the song Ga which was unchanged from the first improvisation. It appears as the last track on The Hunger Dreams soundtrack. David and Devin formed a duo called DaVerse. Their songs, such as Gnuj and Staring at the Sun, explored themes of desire, disappointment, and spiritual frustration. Devin was exploring with taking their acoustic collaborations and embellishing them with electronic beats and synths. Soon, the two realized that they had a unique sound. Acoustitronic: Songs written acoustically that could be stripped down and played live, but with electronic layers. They continued to play together in the Boston area with a variety of other musicians including percussionists, a cello player, and a violinist. Their old pal Anthony Schwartzman then asked them to create a soundtrack to his experimental theatrical performance Hunger Dreams . The show performed at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama theater and the Lyceum in Brooklyn, NYC. Devin did the sound and David acted and sang. Soon after the show, David formed his own band God's Own Drunk, a heavy rock band that played in the Boston area for two years. When it came to producing the album, David called upon Devin's talents. A few songs on that album, including Seasons Change and Rise Through the Ashes demonstrated a new synthesis of meaningful songs with beautiful electronic adornment. But it wasn't until David asked Devin to take a song that he wrote called Vapors, based on the book of Ecclesiastes, that the true potential of their artistic collaboration finally matured into something truly innovative. Vapors integrated David's soulful yearning with Devin's vast musical landscape. The two realized that they had to create a new album together. In December of 2007 Devin travelled from his loft in Brooklyn to David's house in Boston with a contract. They agreed to write, record and give away 1,000 copies of an album within a years' time. They each agreed to write a song a day for the first 30 days to get the juices flowing. Devin (and about 300 other artists in his building) lost his home that weekend due to his landlord's shenanigans. In hotels, stolen moments in the loft, office space and at friends homes a song a day was written and recorded. The MP3's sent up to David who was writing lyrics with an equal fury. The music and lyrics reflect a deepening spiritual awareness, influenced by a new Integral vision. Over the course of the next year they got together periodically used ftp transfers, email attachments, shared google documents, flash cards, notebooks, and any other means available to create a synergy that they had never before experienced. It took a year and a half, but this Postal Service gone digital project became the most intimate collaboration each had engaged in. Recordings were made in Devin's ever mobile NoBudget studios situated mostly in Brooklyn, NY; but also in Newton, Ashland and Arlington, MA. The result is the album you are now listening to. We hope it makes you feel, ponder, reflect, shake, and rise.