E.G. Phillips: This Infertile Valley

E.G. Phillips
This Infertile Valley

Credits:
vocals - E.G. Phillips
backing vocals - Renee Padgett
keys - Kevin Seal
guitar - Jeffrey Burr
upright bass - Paul Eastburn
percussion - Chris McGrew

vocal arrangement by Kevin Seal

Recorded at Wally's HydeOut, Hyde Street Studio C
in San Francisco, Sept 5th-8th and Oct 3rd 2021

Recording Engineers: Desmond Shea, Liam Craddock
Mixed by Chris McGrew
Mastered by Gary Hobish, A. Hammer Mastering

Produced by Chris McGrew

Artwork by Mario M. Noche

All song written by E.G. Phillips (ASCAP)
(c) 2022 Ducks With Pants Music

"...a poetic universe worthy of an episode of the X-Files or a work of David Lynch ... a gently surrealist atmosphere"
— Boulimique de Musique

Lyrics:
You can’t satiate this thirsty ground
Nothing of sustenance can be found
No seeds I plant will germinate
Yet I come here when hunger comes ‘round

Here the tree roots only grow shallow
The blood of the wounded has salted the soil
Out on the skyline a thunderhead blooms
A coyote is skulking along the arroyo

It’s time to leave this infertile valley
It’s time to leave this infertile valley

The unfinished furrows, the abandoned plows
The swords that forged them all nameless now
The well has gone dry, the windmill is weary
Foundations jut out like a sunken ship’s bow

I saw you next to your dingy Volkswagen
Slumped on its side with a busted back axle
You were crank’n away on a rusty pump handle
To coax one last drop forth through your sheer passion

It’s time to leave this infertile valley
It’s time to leave this infertile valley

The ancient Maya and old Babylon
Fell long ago and are long since gone
It’s a matter on which academics debate
Maybe they just felt like moving on

It’s time to leave this infertile valley
It’s time to leave this infertile valley
It’s time to leave this infertile valley

This song about a place called Depression.

I wrote the lyrics to this song mostly in one sitting at Pinhole coffee in Bernal Heights. The place being described is largely derived from my imagination, though I admit the bit about the Volkswagen with a busted back axle was in part inspired by reading about the travails of songwriter Ellisa Sun as she was on an extended year long tour traveling the country by RV. There’s also a nod to my proclivity to watch history videos and read books like Jared Diamond’s “Collapse.”

The 3rd single from my forthcoming album “Alien from an Alternate Earth,” this recording features the incredible Renee Padgett on backing vocals (with an arrangement created by Kevin Seal, who also handles keys). You can hear her amazing versatility just in the span of this one track. What starts out in the 2nd verse as a simple, subtle backing harmony reminiscent of something out of the 50s transforms into gorgeous gospel-like cadences for the following chorus, lifts us into the heavens for the bridge, and then easily slips into a Bossa Nova vocalese for the final verse as the rhythm switches up.