Charismatic Megafauna by Stars Walk Backwards

A montage of 20 years of recording music together. Early songs and experiments that, while they never found a home on a finished album, we believe are worth sharing. If you like "Aleutian Megathrust" (our first album from 2021) and "Space Up Volume 2" (our next album, coming 2025), please feel free to poke around in here. You'll find things to enjoy.

Kick It (With Me) [Demo]: An HDH & late 60s Whitfield inflected tune that beamed in on a ray of early spring sunshine on a crowded deck in Gulf Shores, AL. 1st time on a cherry wood bass played on many of our songs, still using round wound strings, and the joy of rediscovering the bass after nearly 20 years is palpable. A mod demo that merits hearing alongside the smoother 70s vibe-dusted version on Aleutian Megathrust (K)

Self Destruct: Jazzfest 2014, lyrics written to collaborate with Kebrodero Olivia’s “Yellow Cherry Fantasy” after the first date with my wife. Then Ben got ahold of Sergio’s tracks, and this happened! Not what I was imagining but there's nothing else we did quite like it. There is a live funk version of this song that will surface at some point...a snippet appears on Soundproof Kitten Earmuffs. (K)

On Sparrow Hills: In early 2016, my sister requested some music for a podcast. As SWB had recently had an intense rhythm section tracking session, I thought we'd knock it out in no time. I laid down the tracks you hear here in about an hour, thinking Kris would embellish. Little did we know band progress would be delayed by extreme life events. It was never "finished." We recently unearthed this from the vault and realized it was imperfect but immensely shareable. Of course, it is plastered with the influence of Brian Eno, an allegation I cannot deny, but do embrace. (B)

Jealous of Angels: A ghostly story-song that evolved on its journey from Atlanta, GA (hatched as a skeletal iPhone memo of an out of tune piano) to McCall, ID to New Orleans, LA. Duet vocals from the legendary Dr. Sarah Candler. A middle 8 graced by Jack Joshua’s acoustic bass, a first or second take that in the context of the chord chart pointed our way forward as a band. Learning to control my voice on a Blue Spark condenser that I later discarded. Orchestrations and re-chordal heavy lifting by Ben. We lost files somewhere close to finishing this, and this remastered version is stitched together from several bounces. It's one of my favorite songs we've made (K)

Last Night on Planet Disco: One of Ben's first projects in Logic ended up becoming this 4-part odyssey. Behind the scenes, an archaeological site. A chord progression written on a new ukelele on a beach in Moloka’i played into a portable cassette player in Honolulu transformed into a new and haunting composition in McCall, ID. A poem improvised in minutes at the end of a session with a plane waiting in Boise, in a rounding process inspired by medicine. An Irish folk song inspired by the songs my grandpa and uncles used to sing. Field recordings from the beach and coffee farming mountains of Nicaragua. An outro developed in Moscow, ID and layered with autotuned improvisations in San Francisco, CA. A vision shepherded and resuscitated across years and states by Ben into this. Closing the book on this one felt significant. (K & B)

Letting Go: Before there was SWB, there was Xiphoid Process (2004-2005), proggy (but too weird and amateurish for prog) sonic exploration. We shuttled back and forth from Bellingham to Seattle, laying down tracks on a Roland VS 840 (a fine piece of equipment I sometimes miss). It was our first foray into distance collaboration. We approached it with the enthusiasm and confidence of our early 20's, disregarding song structure and ignorant of recording technique. This one was arranged and recorded in Jeff’s Basement, where we pulled out all the bells, whistles, and assorted instruments in various states of repair. There may also be an extended version with an outro with thousands of birds, a Brian Wilson inspired vocal choir, and the screams of the damned. We’ll never tell. (K)

Witness To My Crime: One of the first tunes that really came together, in Moscow and New Orleans, and first tangible benefit from the "Scooter Jam" era. (K)

A Little More Light In: Written while recovering from a severe accident that affected my body, mind, heart and brain. A live version of this we played in my other bands in the Bay Area, Super Blood Wolf Moon and Moonshot, sadly broken up by COVID was much closer to what I imagine for it, but putting this together with Ben, and putting my self together, with so much help from my friends and family, was a very important step for me. Probably wasn't the best time to try to learn blues harp, but oh well. (K)

Soundproof Kitten Earmuffs: We tried and failed to make an album called Post-Apocalyptic Wishlist between 2012 and 2015. What was most challenging was maintaining the quality we aspired to throughout a 4+ minute song. I was dj’ing live a little in Nola and was interested in whether we could make snippets of our many works in progress flow as a continuous mix, and learn about each other's taste by selecting our favorite moments of each other's work. Doing this helped us communicate and grow our taste and aesthetics toward each other. In the process, we recaptured the simple joy of creating together. Imagine a giant record with the needle skipping across the demos of greatest hits of a band that only exists in your imagination.

Thanks for listening, please stay safe, and remember we are all in this together.

a psychedelic soul collaboration between lifelong friends