Chris writes:
We made this album during the run-up to the last presidential election. Our collective mood was angry and frustrated. The world beyond us seemed to be happily headed to hell. The songs I had been writing were wake-up calls, to myself, if no one else. Everything I was reading, hearing and seeing seemed to be foreshadowed with stark, apocalyptic tones. A sound started to form in my head. I wondered what it would have been like if Neil Young had stopped by Wire's rehearsal space, sometime in 1977? That seemed like a good place for us to start.
When we got together to play there was a deep sense of urgency and concentration to the proceedings. We kept things raw, loud and immediate. Quiet, poetic stirrings seemed a completely inadequate response to what we were feeling. We recorded the album very live, in a circle, facing each other, like we were standing around a lonely, desert campfire. To be truthful, we had great fun. Actually, fun had rarely seemed so necessary.
"The question we should have asked ourselves as we stared at our TV screens on September 11 is simply: Where have we already seen this same thing over and over again?"
--Slavoj Zizek: Welcome To The Desert Of The Real
Notes from Carla's journal:
"Fuck Your Fear" and "Coming Up For Air" were both recorded on 9/11, 2004. According to our producer Tucker, "Coming Up For Air" ended at 9 minutes and eleven seconds on the 2" tape. We recorded these songs in nearly the same sequence as what now appears on the album. On the 13th of September we realized that we were recording "Kalashnikov" on the day that America lifted its ban on the sale of assault weapons.
"The wall went dark and as a flickering light returned, it showed the sea aflame, a charred coastline, smoldering tree trunks with no ruins behind them, only basements and foundations as far as the horizon...no people anywhere."
--Christoph Ransmayr: The Dog King
Glenn Slater: analog synthesizers, piano, organ, string arrangements
Carla Torgerson: vocals, guitars, tapes
Chris Eckman: vocals, guitars, keyboards, samples
Terri Moeller: drums
Michael Wells: bass guitar
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