We’ve got something very special for readers in today’s Steal This Track. Before the end of this year, much-admired Denver singer-songwriter will release the highly anticipated follow-up to 2007’s stunning “The Fall I Fell.” Years in the making, “Fortitude” was well worth the wait. In anticipation of the album’s release, the artist has shared with us the story — in words and music — of the evolution of the title track. Read and listen on to find out what Cooke has been up to all these years.
The emotional depth, lyrical ambition, eccentric artistry and melodic magic of Ian Cooke’s 2007 concept album, “The Fall I Fell,” made it one of the top 10 local albums of the past five years. However, as the years since its release passed, even the most ardent fans began to wonder whether the intimidatingly talented singer, cellist, pianist, painter and origami artist (yep) would ever be able to follow his own act. As it turns out, Cooke — along with longtime collaborators Whit Sibley, Sean Merrell and — has been working on the songs that will appear on “Fortitude” for many years.
“The process has been really slow. I take forever to finish a piece of music,” Cooke told us. “Some of these songs were developed from the musical ideas I had during the creation of ‘The Fall I Fell,’ but didn’t use, so I boxed and shelved them.”
Interestingly, like Ouroboros eating its own tail, the artist fed on his own protracted creative process for further creative inspiration.
“It has taken me four years just to get these measly 10 songs written & recorded,” he says. “The frustration of being such a lazy slowpoke is the source of a lot of the lyrics in ‘Fortitude.'”
Cooke’s trusted musical partner and coach, Ian O’Dougherty, has a different perspective.
“Some songs are finished as they are written and some songs take more work to become a finished recording,” observes O’Dougherty.
Click to the next page to learn more about “Fortitude” and hear it in several incarnations.
Looking back on the process of crafting the album’s title song, O’Dougherty still marvels. In May of 2009, “Fortitude” first appeared as a cello piece called “Why Wait,” fleshed out with Cooke’s signature use of layered loops and time signature changes. The individual sections of the song trace their origins back to a time shortly after the release of “The Fall I Fell.” You can hear this version of the song below as “Why Wait – All Cello.”
Nearly two years later, the song was dusted off. Lyrics and a new melody were added, along with layers of vocals and a powerful chorus that almost turns Cooke’s quirky, progressive art rock into a pop song.
“I had heard OneRepublic’s song, ‘All The Right Moves,’ on the radio on New Year’s Eve 2010,” recalls O’Dougherty, “and I had been thinking of how to apply that type of pop sound to Cooke’s sound.”
This version of the song — which you can hear below as “Why Wait – Demo” — gives fans a unique glimpse into Cooke’s creative process. The cello parts have a roughness reminiscent of his live performances, and the vocals were captured in one take. If you listen carefully, you can even hear Cooke turning the pages of his lyric sheet.
“The next day, we recorded a faster version, using only keyboards,” explains O’Dougherty of the next version, listed as “Why Wait – Fast Keys.” Hearing Cooke perform the same basic song on a completely different instrument reveals just how solid his songwriting is. Even so, his bandmates had difficulty making their parts work in this arrangement, and they encouraged Cooke to further simplify the song.
Throughout the summer of 2011, while most of the rest of the album was being recorded and mixed down by Denver’s legendary , Cooke and O’Dougherty continued to experiment with new arrangements for the song.
“When Bob went on tour with Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, we hunkered down to finish the song we were now calling ‘Altered Beast’ because of all its changes,” O’Dougherty explains. “I added guitar, some bass, synth, programmed drums, and layers of cellos, vocals and piano from Cooke.” As if all these changes and layers of sound weren’t enough, the two brought in Michael King (of and ) to add additional drum programming.
Throughout all of these revisions — from minor tweaks to radical reworking — the song called “Fortitude” was finally transformed into the completed version that will be available on the album of the same name, tentatively scheduled for release on November 11, 2011. If you pre-order the album now on ($10 for vinyl, CD or digital, $15 for a signed copy, $20 for a copy paired with “The Fall I Fell,” $500 for a signed copy and a private performance by Cooke himself), you’ll get an immediate, high-quality download of the final version of the song. You can also click through on the player below to access the free download.
“Its evolution in each track is probably the best way to show a listener my writing and recording process,” says Cooke of “Fortitude.” “I still don’t feel like the final version is perfect, but you just have to call it done at some point.”
Since their days together in , Cooke and O’Dougherty have had a strange but productive working dynamic in which the former relies on the latter for discipline, while the latter continually marvels at the former’s creative gifts. That dynamic was no different in the making of “Fortitude.”
“It could very well be that I would never call any recording done without the prodding and advising of my bandmates, particularly Ian O,” says Cooke with typical self-deprecation. “As much as I hate the sound of the whip, I definitely need it to be cracked now and again.”
Please note that downloads offered via Steal This Track are intended to whet your appetite, and are NOT CD-quality recordings. If you want those, please support the artists by buying their music and/or seeing them live.
If you’re a band or musician ready to expose your fresh sounds to the readers of Reverb, email your tracks — along with any interesting facts about them, as well as a photo or album art — to Eryc Eyl for consideration.
Eryc Eyl is a veteran music journalist, critic and Colorado native who has been neck-deep in local music for many years. Check out for local music you can HEAR, and the for stories about Denver musicians doing extraordinary things. Against his mother’s advice, Eryc has also been known to . You can also follow Sorry, Mom.
