Sweeten the Distance
This review is part of a series in which I review Neal’s solo records one by one chronologically, and chat with various friends and bandmates who were part of the making of each record.
From the definitive riff of the eponymous opening track, to the hymnal chords of the closing one, Neal Casal really hit his stride with Sweeten the Distance. The record is a fabulous summation of the two amazing albums preceding this one – the shimmering psychedelia present on No Wish to Reminisce, and the acoustic heartbeat heard on Roots and Wings, with a real sun-drenched sound. This time, Neal headed back west with Jeff Hill, Dan Fadel, and Jon Graboff to record in Sacramento.
Producer Thom Monahan has a real King Midas thing going on – perhaps he’s also selective about working with great musicians, but many highly acclaimed albums – like Devendra Banhart’s Cripple Crow, almost everything Fruit Bats and Vetiver put out, many CRB albums, and Beachwood Sparks’ Tarnished Gold (which Neal played on and came out shortly after Sweeten) feature Thom’s masterful production and engineering. All these records sound amazing – glittering, resounding; and his apparent touch on Sweeten the Distance is no different. Neal and Thom perfected the sound over the course of six months, recording at the Hangar studio, overdubbing at Wacs in LA, and returning to the Hangar again to mix.
Neal’s voice and acoustic playing is really the star of the show although the album is in no way stripped or minimal like his earlier work – he seems to have found the sweet spot in terms of the perfect amount of overdubs and layering. His vocals sound confident, natural, sometimes taking on a slight growl on songs like “So Many Enemies,” and “Time and Trouble” that’s very Hazy Malaze. Amanda Shires, Andy Cabic, and Trevor Beld Jimenez all lend their talents to create impeccable harmonies.
The exquisite-sounding “White House Round Fence” was written after nearly drowning after surfing – Neal told No Depression that when he got home after that experience, he picked up the guitar and the song poured out of him. “The power of being held in the ocean grabbed my unconscious and rattled that song out of me, it was something of a heavy experience.”
“How Quiet It Got” is a standout, musically – the rising drumbeat, the call-and-response chorus, the swirling guitars. It’s such a unique song, and it works so well. “Let It All Begin” is a song in the same vein – both songs are amazing but have always been quite opaque in terms of lyric interpretability, a closer look now makes me feel that like so many other Casal classics, they’re much deeper and more painful than anyone realized at the time.
Levity is restored on the very Byrds-esque “Gyrls of Wynter;” and transparency on the gorgeous “Angel and You’re Mine.” The album follows a graceful arc, although one could argue that after being spoiled by the 16 song plus two bonus tracks of Roots and Wings, Sweeten ends too soon. Another stunner.
Neal’s good friend and bandmate of nearly 20 years, Jeff Hill, told us how Sweeten the Distance was made.
John Baccigaluppi owned The Hangar in Sacramento. He also runs the magazine Tape Op. He was running the magazine and studio out of the same place. This place was just enormous. The room we played in almost looked like an old bowling alley or something. It was giant. And it was just in really terrible state of repair. The floor was falling apart, the ceiling is falling apart. John even built a skateboarding room.
So we went there- Jon Graboff, Dan Fadel, Neal and I and then Bryce Gonzales was assistant engineering, I believe. And of course Tom Monahan was producing it. Neal had another batch of new songs. I guess it was the last solo record.
Tom did an amazing job. I think. We did all the basics there and then Tom brought everything back to his place in LA and then Neal recorded lots of his overdubs. I really liked that record a lot
There’s a couple of real standout songs on that record. Like, “White Fence Round House.” That was the song he wrote after he nearly drowned. I think that was such a beautiful song. One of my favorite songs is “Angel and You’re Mine.” It was actually a song that he brought for Hazy Malaze.
He brought that song and we were kind of like playing it as a Hazy Malaze song. And it was clearly not a Hazy Malaze song. So, we were like, “Yeah, this is cool but this is a Neal solo song”. So that was written about two years earlier.
It was a fun session because we were just like kind of hanging out at the studio. It was a big, huge place. And we had a kitchen. And we’d make dinners. And I remember Jon and I really got hooked on Kozy Shack rice pudding.
We’d go to the store and we’d each buy a whole one ourselves. Jon would look over at me and be like, “Hey, do you want to take a trip over to the shack?” We’d Sprinkle cinnamon on top and then we’d eat it. We each gained 500 hundred pounds.
There was a great record store in Sacramento that we’d go to. We were just working hard, getting that record done. Basics are interesting, because you’re kind of just putting it down, and you don’t really know what’s going to be on there afterwards, but you’re trying to give it a foundation for it to all work.
I love Sweeten the Distance. It’s just fun, melody-wise, I really think it’s a beautiful record. Thom just brought it into this beautiful, ethereal space.
Jeff Hill, October 2020
Given Jeff’s long past playing and touring beside Neal, he shared this story:
We were driving from Copenhagen to Stockholm, Sweden. It was very dark and cold night and we stopped at a gas station and out tour manager didn’t understand the language on the gas handle. And she put in regular gas in the diesel engine. So, we were driving this big van and all of a sudden the car dies on the side of the road. And it was like a two-lane highway, there were trucks going by, it was freezing out and also very late. We had no idea how far away we were from anything – we were just stuck in the middle of nowhere. We had very little time to get anywhere. We all got on the side of the road and then Neal, like a superhero, flagged down this truck. He jumps in with this complete Swedish stranger, and they take off down the road.
We were sitting in the van, and every time a truck would go by, the van would shake. We got off the road almost into the woods, because we were afraid we were going to get hit! We’re all standing there for like an hour. And then like an hour later, Neal comes back and he’s in this tow truck. They put the van in the back and we’re all just like psyched we got a ride back and we get to the place just in time. And they were about to close the hotel and we would get it. I have these amazing pictures of us all just like super, like exhausted and bummed out. We ended up basically eating any money that anyone was going to make on that tour. He just felt like it was his responsibility, so, he went out there and made sure we were all fine.
In a 2006 interview, Neal told the same story with a slightly different ending…
most amusing memory from your current or most recent tour? van broke down in the middle of the night on a deserted road in northern sweden in november, and i ran across the highway and hitched a ride from a truck driver going in the opposite direction. only problem was he spoke absolutely no english so there i was heading down the highway watching my van, my band, and my entire life disappear in the rearview freezing swedish night…i never saw any of them again. i wonder how they’re doing now. probably all married to beautiful swedish girls and playing in the shout out louds. see, it all works out somehow, doesn’t it?
Big Yawn, July 20th, 2006
Huge thanks to Jeff for the stories and photos. Jeff also sent some photos of No Wish to Reminisce being made you can see here.
