Skeletons Out was a project by me and Jay Sullivan, who played old Califone turntables and a harmonium. I think that Jay and I met in 1998 or 1999 at some show where he was part of Due Process with RRRon Lessard and somehow he and I ended up playing a duo set together too. But my memory is notoriously unreliable. What I know for sure is that we bonded over a shared love of Small Cruel Party, Climax Golden Twins, Voice Crack, things like that. Later, we'd bond over our shared love of fine beers. In fact, Jay brewed excellent ales himself, and years later would go on to become head brewer at Cambridge Brewing Company and then open up his own highly acclaimed brewery, Honest Weight Artisan Beer.

Jay and I were pals for years before we started playing music together seriously. Because he was from Lowell and played a turntable, Talbot and I used to tease him by introducing him to people as Ron's son. We were immature. Actually, I think that Jay and I decided to call ourselves a band when we toured the Northeast with Joseph Hammer and Tom Grimley (what year was that? 2006?). At one of the tour stops played (was it Philadelphia? Montreal? Albany? I'm not sure) we ended up playing as a duo, sorta spontaneously. We had fun and kept on doing it until the Skeletons Out sound emerged. At the time, I found myself moving steadily away from gesture/action-based improvisation, and was longing for a more static sound. When Jay and I played together, our individual sounds were meshed so thoroughly that, in the moment, it became hard for me to discern who was doing what... and that sonic blur was super-exciting. I loved the idea of getting lost in our own creation, being part of something while standing outside of it at the same time.

All of the source sound for this, the only Skeletons Out album, was taken from material generated by Jay (including some field recordings, sounds made from highly-altered vinyl records and amplified turntable feedback, who knows what else), tape sounds generated by me, and then lots and lots and LOTS of live (in concert and in the studio) duo recordings. I think there's some piece of a trio session we recorded with Joseph in there, but frankly I don't remember and I can't hear it anymore anyway. All the elements got chewed up inside the tape machines, as is my usual process. The end result is a single long piece that (to my ears) starts with tense pressure that doesn't let up for quite a while, then about midway through, ramps the pressure up some more. On the album's jacket, we intentionally did not list the items we used to make the music (as one typically lists instruments), or individual contributions. The idea was to discourage anyone from listening to it as two dudes in a room. I hope that came across.

Please listen to this LOUD on a decent stereo with good bass response if you can. I preserved my favorite sound of Jay's, that mammoth enveloping low sick throb. If you listen quietly on crappy little computer speakers you'll miss it completely. "In Remembrance..." ought to fill up a space and pin you to the wall. But I dunno, maybe it sounds nice quietly too... up to you, I suppose. But it's intended to crush boulders.