Songs Of The Unforgiven
Released October 2004
Deep Fried Records
Recorded by Eric Swanson
Almost immediately after recording “Puss ‘n’ Boots”, Brad Roberts, Ellen Reid and Dan Roberts proceeded to prepare recording the follow-up, with Roberts acknowledging he went “through this phase where I was extremely prolific and I wrote like three records worth of material in a space of months.”
The band pursued a decisively raw, acoustic, stripped-down sound for “Songs of the Unforgiven”, and turned to the Internet in search of a recording studio that featured a pipe organ. By Googling “recording studios” plus “pipe organ”, the first result revealed Sacred Heart Studios in Duluth, Minnesota: a church originally constructed in 1894 that was later abandoned and eventually restored and turned into a venue for concerts. Having discovered Sacred Heart Recording Studio included a 1493-pipe, Felgemaker pipe-organ, the band drove to Duluth and recorded the album the following January.
The album is decidedly apocalyptic thematically, featuring lyrics replete with Biblical references and imagery. Other unconventional instruments appear on the record, including the harp and kettle drums.
