I think this is the kind of song you’re only supposed to listen to at night. It’s one of my absolute favorites. Anastassia and I are planning a studio cut, but I felt like posting it pretty much as we play it, raw. If you’re not already, I highly recommend getting familiar with the work of Leonid Fyodorov and the incredible Petersburg group Auktsion. This is our cover of “Esho Ne Pozdno”, which translates to “Not Yet Late”.
This is a great song written by Boris Grebenshikov, the genius behind Akvarium, one of Russia’s most influential and amazing groups. I think of Grebenshikov as occupying a cultural and musical space somewhere between Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and John Lennon. The more I listen to his music, the deeper and more wonderful it gets.
The song you’re about to hear is our cover version of Garcon Nomer Dva (which translates as “Boy Number Two”, a phrase as mysterious in English as it is in Russian). This cover is quite old, dating from 2005. It happened late one night in the fall when I was trying to work on a concept album and failing horribly. At the same time - literally in the background - Anastassia had figured out this song. Happily I gave up my own futile project and we set about recording her.
It was a lot of fun. We first laid down her guitar track, which she played on her gorgeous handmade czech acoustic. Then came the vocals with only one overdub, which happened when she got so overcome with emotion that she choked up and had to take a break (the words really are quite powerful). We wrapped up the evening with my putting down a bass and, of course, taking a couple solos. In all honesty I’m not sure how this really holds up next to Grebenshikov’s original, but at least we had a good time doing it.
