Shwan Farley
Similar Artists
King's X, Zappa, The 70's
Influences
Van Halen, Rob Crow, Frank Zappa, Nine Inch Nails, Mike Patton, Beatles
References to Shwan Farley
Shwan Farley's Biography
“I wanted to see what it would feel like to release some new music before I was already sick of it.”
And that, in a nutshell, is what set Seattle artist Shawn Farley on his current path: writing, recording, and releasing a new song once per week, for an entire year. All of the songs are available for free download from the blog where Shawn is documenting his progress, www.shawnfarley.com.
Farley is no stranger to the recording studio, having released six self-produced releases on his own Wonky Records label since 2001. However, this new project, which he’s calling 5240 (correctly pronounced “fitty-two fawty” in Bostonese) is the first one where Shawn is literally doing everything, from writing the songs, to performing all of the instruments and vocals, to engineering and mixing the final results. “I’ve always worked in ‘real’ studios before, with ‘real’ engineers,” Farley admits. “But with a weekly Deadline Beast to feed, there’s almost no time for anyone else to be involved. I’ve got fifty-two songs to get out this year, so there’s a real need for speed. I’m doing everything on a laptop in my Seattle apartment. Thank you, Technology Gods.”
The seed of the idea that has become 5240 was planted in 2007, as Farley labored over the first full-length release of his Seattle trio, Half Zaftig. “Finishing Life Like Luster took a very long time,” says Farley. “Indie budgets being what they are, it had already taken us 18 months to track the album, and then we spent four months mixing, and then the record was mastered a couple of times before I was finally ready to let it go.”
“Spending that much time, focused on every little stupid nuance, starts to really sap your will to live,” Farley laughs. “It started feeling very far away from what got us all involved in music in the first place – that thrill of that first playback of something brand-new. I wanted to see if there was a way to capture that moment, and release that into the world.”
5240 is Shawn Farley’s solution. He began releasing the new songs on the first Monday in January 2009, with a new single and video by Half Zaftig, “Help Is On The Way.” Fans of Half Zaftig and Shawn’s previous solo work were excited, but skeptical. Could Farley really keep up such a frantic release schedule? Wouldn’t the quality of the work suffer?
“I don’t know if I can do it, to be honest with you,” says Farley. “I think for some people, that tension is what keeps them showing up at the blog on Monday mornings - to see if maybe this week is the one where I blew it. But I’m ten songs in now, and I think the tunes are getting better if anything.”
Wander over to www.shawnfarley.com next Monday morning and judge for yourself.
Shwan Farley's Profile
And that, in a nutshell, is what set Seattle artist Shawn Farley on his current path: writing, recording, and releasing a new song once per week, for an entire year. All of the songs are available for free download from the blog where Shawn is documenting his progress, www.shawnfarley.com.
Farley is no stranger to the recording studio, having released six self-produced releases on his own Wonky Records label since 2001. However, this new project, which he’s calling 5240 (correctly pronounced “fitty-two fawty” in Bostonese) is the first one where Shawn is literally doing everything, from writing the songs, to performing all of the instruments and vocals, to engineering and mixing the final results. “I’ve always worked in ‘real’ studios before, with ‘real’ engineers,” Farley admits. “But with a weekly Deadline Beast to feed, there’s almost no time for anyone else to be involved. I’ve got fifty-two songs to get out this year, so there’s a real need for speed. I’m doing everything on a laptop in my Seattle apartment. Thank you, Technology Gods.”
The seed of the idea that has become 5240 was planted in 2007, as Farley labored over the first full-length release of his Seattle trio, Half Zaftig. “Finishing Life Like Luster took a very long time,” says Farley. “Indie budgets being what they are, it had already taken us 18 months to track the album, and then we spent four months mixing, and then the record was mastered a couple of times before I was finally ready to let it go.”
“Spending that much time, focused on every little stupid nuance, starts to really sap your will to live,” Farley laughs. “It started feeling very far away from what got us all involved in music in the first place – that thrill of that first playback of something brand-new. I wanted to see if there was a way to capture that moment, and release that into the world.”
5240 is Shawn Farley’s solution. He began releasing the new songs on the first Monday in January 2009, with a new single and video by Half Zaftig, “Help Is On The Way.” Fans of Half Zaftig and Shawn’s previous solo work were excited, but skeptical. Could Farley really keep up such a frantic release schedule? Wouldn’t the quality of the work suffer?
“I don’t know if I can do it, to be honest with you,” says Farley. “I think for some people, that tension is what keeps them showing up at the blog on Monday mornings - to see if maybe this week is the one where I blew it. But I’m ten songs in now, and I think the tunes are getting better if anything.”
Wander over to www.shawnfarley.com next Monday morning and judge for yourself.
Shwan Farley's Profile
