Hi Bob,

I play in the band Jets Overhead…reading your letter was totally unexpected so thank you for the compliments. I’m a subscriber and got it first hand, but a busy week in Austin means I’m only getting the chance to write and say hi now.

You are right that we made an album without any third party input beyond the production help of Neil Osborne, and this did allow us to make choices without any second-guessing…beyond our own internal self-doubt, which of course pops up occasionally in the creative process.  A convenient example, but the song you heard – "All the People" – originally had vocals in that first chorus, and we eventually took them out both to give the song more breathing room and to avoid over-using the main chorus lyric. An unconventional decision to not have any vocal melody in the first chorus…and not exactly an important moment in rock history…but definitely a good microcosm of the type of musical decision-making that is sometimes difficult to stand behind in other circumstances.

We actually wrote the album on an island off the west coast of Canada…Vancouver Island. Not sure if you’re familiar with the area, it doesn’t include the city of Vancouver within its shores, but rather the smaller city of Victoria, BC. The difficulties of living here and working in music are equalled by the creative inspiration and lifestyle that this area provides, but it’s always interesting to experience the competing mindsets that result from island life, which you also hinted at indirectly in your letter.  First, the natural desire to leave, to speak to a larger audience on the mainland…and second, the desire to remain sheltered and self-directed here without the pressure or input of greater forces. We named the LP "Bridges" for that reason…although there aren’t any connecting our island to the mainland, it captured the spirit of our album and the age-old human divide between the need for connection and the simultaneous need for independence.

In any event, it meant a lot to us as musicians to read the letter. Please stay in touch and let us know if you are ever in this area.

Take care and best wishes,
Piers Henwood

"Bridges" has slowly become my favorite album of the year.  Because of its PLAYABILITY!  I can put it on and it sets me free from the bullshit of life.  Yet, it also rides shotgun when I’m excited and soothes me.  It fits SO MANY moods.  I can just put it on an endless loop and play it for HOURS!

I’ve listened to "All The People" 22 times.  And the rest of the first eight tracks 10 or 11 times (you see I start at track 1, and don’t always have time to play all 59 minutes of the record, and therefore the latter tracks have only been played 5 or 6 times).  AND, this doesn’t count iPod play.

22 plays puts "All The People" at the same level in my iTunes library as:

"Vehicles & Animals"-Athlete
"Long, Long, Long"-The Beatles
"Luck Of The Draw"-Bonnie Raitt
"Hysteria"-Def Leppard
"Nobody"-The Doobie Brothers
"Pretty Ballerina"-The Left Banke
"Anybody’s Darlin’"-Rosanne Cash
"Back In The High Life Again"-Steve Winwood
"You Cried Wolf"-Todd Rundgren
"Breakaway"-ZZ Top

Mighty good company.

And, I haven’t heard such an infectious, laconic groove since Air’s "All I Need".

I say all this to get you to sample "Bridges", which Jets Overhead is giving away for free on its Website.  I’ve gotten a ton of e-mail on this.  People love this record.  You might not.  I wouldn’t expect everybody to dig it.  But don’t miss out if you’re into something moody, yet melodic, that you feel is made just for you.

Go to: http://www.jetsoverhead.com/.  Click through the splash page.  Then click on Music.  Once again, to download the MP3s on a Mac, hold down the Control key when you click, and then choose Download Linked File from the pop-up menu.

You won’t be bludgeoned by riffs.  You won’t hear any pop ditties.  Then again, is your regular life that exciting?  Are you rocketing to the moon and then fucking the person on the front of the magazine?  Life is more about subtlety.  More about boredom.  We want something to get us through, that we can count on.  I can count on Jets Overhead.

Start with "All The People".  (I’m now on 25 plays, which puts it up there with Jackson Browne’s "Fountain Of Sorrow".  Classics at 26, where I’ll be soon, include Bruce Springsteen’s "Tunnel Of Love".)