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Chris Robley Readies Sophomore Release
11/24/2007
By: Patrick Steven Patterson
On Portland, OR-based Chris Robley's sophomore record, The Drunken Dance of
Modern Man In Love, the writer again shows that he's not a sad, tortured artist -
although his pop songs covering the dark side of human relationships sometimes are
both.
"My songs are dark, sure," admits Robley, "but I'm still just this well-adjusted, happily
married, stable, and gainfully employed 20-something songwriter."
Despite being well adjusted, Robley has had his share of bad luck - including two failed
attempts at making a sophomore album. After releasing his debut full-length, 2005's
This Is The (CutthroatPop), Robley hit the road with his band, touring and
exiting the "Portland bubble", as he calls it, while ferociously writing a batch of new songs.
Upon returning, he quickly entered two different studios to begin work on a new
album.
One studio, Mike Coykendall's (M. Ward, Richmond Fontaine) Blue Room Studios, a 16-track
analog home studio, found Robley disappointed with the songs' performances, feeling they
were undercooked and boxed in. While the other studio, Rob Stroup's 8 Ball Studios, a Pro
Tools set-up, left him questioning whether the songs were too polished and
precise.
"The schizophrenia of bouncing between two studios, two producers, two opinions, and two
completely opposite methods of recording was making m go a bit crazy," recalls Robley. "I
lost perspective entirely on those tracks, though I still really believed in the tunes and knew I
could make it all come together eventually."
Disillusioned, Robley began writing new tracks and without hesitation, he put the 8 Ball
Studios and Blue Room recordings on the shelf (and hopes to revisit, finish and release it
sometime in the future), and entered Portland's renowned Type Foundry with Adam Selzer (M.
Ward, The Decemberists, Norfolk and Western) at the helm to record what would become
The Drunken Dance of Modern Man In Love.
Chris Robley & The Fear Of Heights will be celebrating the new release with a
show on December 8th at Seattle's Mars Bar.
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