TheCalvin JohnsonalbumA Wonderful Beast[KLP269] is an experiment in sound.Calvinentered the Audio Eagle Studio in Nashville, TN. using the premise Rocknroll Will Never Die as a starting point. Working closely with ProducerPatrick Carneyand Chief EngineerMarc Whitmore, the team tested the resiliency of such time honored materials as the electric guitar, modular synthesizer and trap drum kit, combining them in various ratios with musical elements like chords A, C and Dm. The results are the Frankensteins monster of an album,A Wonderful Beast.

Following in the tradition of such Brill Building songwriting teams as Leiber-Stoller, Greenwich-Barry and Goffin-King, all the songs onA Wonderful Beastare a collaboration betweenCalvin JohnsonandPatrick Carney. Carney, best known for his work as a member of the Akron, OH powerhouseThe Black Keys, established Audio Eagle to further exactly this type of rocknroll workshopping, allowing the music and songwriting ofNOWto rocket launch into theFUTURE.

Calvin first met Patrick in 2005 while touring the United States following the release of his second solo albumBefore the Dream Faded[KLP170]. The two kept in touch over the years. Patrick suggesting some sort of collaboration; they got together with only the belief that music can ooze from the savage breast, andA Wonderful Beastemerged from the primal dross.

An important element of the sound success ofA Wonderful Beastis the contribution of chanteuseMichelle Branch, who provides back-up harmony vocals on three songs.Ms. Branch, who score many hits in the early double-0 decade as a solo artist and as a member ofthe Wreckers, lives next door to Audio Eagle. Intrigued by the sounds ratcheting forth from the lonesome shack that houses the studio, she walked over to see for herself what all the hubbub was about. Before long she was singing like a bird, in three part harmony (Thanks, Michelle!).

The cover painting for A Wonderful Beast is byJean Smith, based on a photograph bySarah Cass.

Like that monster of Dr. Frankensteins, this rocknroll will never die.