Spent day recording at Figure 8 in Park Slope. Up at 7, got out by 8:30 for 11 am start time at rec. b/c I knew the trains might be fucked up between weekend service and the NYC marathon, which proved to be the case. Listened to podcast interviews w/ Daniel Kane and Roscoe Mitchell on the way, got to studio at 10:30, found the studio, got there just after the rest of the band. Michael, the engineer, was easy to work with, and the place is well-equipped (tho we were in the smaller downstairs room – a little narrow). Tracked “Any Road Home,” took maybe 3-4 takes to get the feel. Glad we did this as a band, w/ stand-up bass. Did an additional guitar pass for comping, but then switched to a semi-acoustic Guild the studio had, and that felt more like the song, so that’s the main guitar track now. Lunch break – Korean tacos. Turned to “Paradox” (cover from a GE industrial musical) which also took a few takes, but nothing outlandish. Matt did use a click track for this one, and we sped it up eventually, though it’s still about 15 seconds longer than the original. The rhythm guitar track is not super-smooth, but it’s not going to be the point of the track - I only punched obvious mistakes. Matt put down shakers and/or tambourine on “The Old Currencies” and “Guesthouse,” we’ll do more percussion tomorrow. Monica Howe arrived just about 6, I let the band leave and we worked on her vocal for “Any Road Home.” (Not by any means an easy or foriginvg song, esp. in a spare arrangement.) Sang a number of passes, basically it’s one of these things where 85% of it was there on the first take, and everything else was detail. (Not surprisingly, we talked about Elaine Stritch recording “The Ladies Who Lunch.”) Knocked off at 8:30. Productive day. Read about Otis Redding on the way home. Back about 10, lights out before 11.