Functioning, just simple functioning is probably what Mark Lanegan considers a daily success story. Making conversation and having performed such in mixed or unmixed company with general or relative ease would be as monumental as waking up some morning and finding that you’re not only orbiting the moon, but you’re the best NASA’s got at what you do. An overstatement, maybe, but there seems to be so much desperation and melancholy in the voice and sentiments of Lanegan on this newest of Soulsavers albums (*which is out Oct. 16* and available as an exclusive stream only here on Daytrotter) that he must count the minute happinesses and joys in triplicate, or perhaps just something more to drink to. It could be more accurate, but Lanegan does appear to have found minor degrees of comfort and solace in – oddly enough – religion and in his relative isolation. On so many of the songs on It’s Not How Far You Far, It’s The Way You Land Lanegan’s swimming in the calmly lapping tides of his loneliness and though it’s bemoaned, it’s almost lauded too, for being such a strong component in his life. He asks Jesus – actually, wallows and begs Jesus – to allow him the dignity of not dying alone, but the realistic act of that happening would kind of turn all of the ghosts and mirages he knows by name and scent into dust and then where would he be? This album, the group’s first, and just one of a billion albums the former Screaming Trees frontman’s contributed his sorrowful cords to, is a fountain of all those worries of solitude and the honest, those seedier portrayal of the traveling man that Ricky Nelson wrote about way back when, though he made the character sound smiley, with pockets jangling and with a string of happy exchanges all along the way. It even felt Caribbean when that traveling man did it. There’s some somber Joe Cocker in the way that Lanegan works on the album, sounding like a man asking for the check, but not completely spent for the night. There remains, in all of the droopy and soulful arrangements, that twinkle in the eye, or at least that half twinkle that could be taken as hopefulness. – Sean Moeller

Rich Machin gives a track-by-track description of It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s The Way You Land

Revival

That song wouldn’t have the soul it’s got if it had been contrived or over-arranged. In many ways, it was a happy accident. I’d got the London Community Gospel Choir in for “Paper Money”, as Lanegan had suggested a bombastic choir part. As I was driving down from Manchester to the London studio early one morning for that recording, I was listening to the demos from the last session, and “Revival” made me think: lyrically, this is a gospel song! So after doing “Paper Money” I asked the choir if they’d stick around to try something else. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted yet, so I got them to just sing the whole song through with Lanegan’s voice, assuming I’d edit it afterwards. Later, listening to it, I knew: this all has to stay in. You do often stumble across ideas that might never have seen the light of day. And the video perfectly captures its Southern Gothic feel. Like William Faulkner’s writing it deals with the darker side of religious undertones. I find it bizarre that this song’s got so much attention, but it’s a compliment. Revival Video on YouTube »

Ghosts of You and Me

This is more aggressive; it was great to turn the guitars up on a couple of tracks. See, Mark sounds great on anything. The rolling bass groove on it is almost Joy Division, a bit Hooky/Mani… It was one of the last songs we did and we just decided to cut loose a little. Rock is a huge part of Lanegan’s background, and of mine, after all. It felt right!

Paper Money

More of a hip-hop track. This was a loop I’d made up that was lying around that I never for a minute considered for Lanegan. But he listened to it and came back with all these great ideas. He knows his hip-hop, especially current left-field stuff. This solidified what we were trying to do with the feel of the album. It was a benchmark in our realising we could make something really off the wall that would still hold together. As if there were many more rooms in this building we could explore.

Ask The Dust

I’d read John Fante’s book Ask The Dust a few weeks before. The instrumentals are still a big part of what we do. I’m a huge fan of movie soundtracks – which must be quite evident. I’ve got a ridiculously vast vinyl collection of Italian composers – Badalamenti, Morricone, Rota, Bruno Nicoli. I’ve scored some underground documentaries recently and it’s something I’d like to put more time into. I was definitely going for a widescreen feel here.

Spiritual

This Spain cover ties in with the first album, where we worked with Josh Haden of the band Spain. Josh was working on a solo album when we were making this so he couldn’t come in much, but he’s a dear friend and Spain’s albums are among my all-time favourites, which is why I approached him in the first place. Lanegan loves this song too. It’s a nice link: I didn’t want a cut-off point as if we’d “switched vocalists” from Josh to Mark. We haven’t. Josh is part of our family. Every album will sound different from the last, but it’s good to have a thread running through, and this provides that.

Kingdoms of Rain

Along with “Revival”, this is the track people most commonly come up to me and comment on. Mark walked into the booth to sing it and after he finished it was one of those moments where everybody sitting at the desk just didn’t know what to say. It was just awesome. As a producer your ego can tempt you to try little tricks, but when you’ve got somebody like Lanegan in there the best thing you can do is strip everything back and give his voice loads of room to do what it does best. There’s nobody else out there whose singing can take your head off the way his can. Here it’s like a cross between Johnny Cash and Clint Eastwood… You don’t want to spill that man’s drink!

Through My Sails

On a long stay in LA for sessions, I mainly played three records in my car – The Stones’ “Exile On Main Street”, Gene Clark’s “No Other” and Neil Young’s “Zuma”. When I needed to de-stress and clear my brain I’d drive around, and often I’d go and sit by the sea. I find the sound of the ocean very relaxing, it helps me get a clear perspective on things. I had Zuma on, and right at the end after the better-known and much louder “Cortez The Killer” this came in, as I was sitting on the beach. It was such a Neil Young moment, the lyrics and mood were so appropriate, and I knew we had to do a version of it, it just fit. Mark knew it and loved it. It felt right in every way.

Arizona Bay

Like “Ask The Dust,” this instrumental is soundtrack-influenced, and I think throwing it into the mix makes the record as a whole more balanced and well-rounded. For me you shouldn’t just listen to the odd track, the album works from beginning to end.

Jesus of Nothing

It has a trippy psychedelic feel and it’s dark & dirty. We let Lanegan loose on it and he had fun. Again it’s not the kind of thing that he normally gets to sing on. He really went to town here! Watching him do it – when he was doing all the overlapping vocals – blew my mind. You write a track and have roughly in your mind how it’ll sound, then somebody comes in and puts their spin on it and it goes to fresh, challenging places. I can hear so many different styles of music trying to come out in this one track – it sums up the album. It leaves so many avenues open to go down, so many bridges to cross. Which is what we will do.

No Expectations

We’d agreed to do a Stones song – they were a big soundtrack to our recording – but only if it was one we could flip on its head. No point doing it straight. Then this one jumped out at me. So we came up with this new arrangement. We were at a point in time where the pressure was racking up. And the song’s beauty and feel rang true. It was a good way to bookend the record. The sentiment expressed where we were at.

Free “B-Side” Download: “Down for the Count”

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