Recording the Album

2009-08-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

...and so there I was downtown San Diego drinking sangria at Pokez on 10th and E. I still had this idea for a recording project that would be gratifying for it's members who lived in different cities. To me Proximity Effect seemed most fitting name since the "band" was displaced over the southwestern U.S.

Most of Auditory Rorschach was written on a tour bus when I was working as a live sound engineer. We were touring for 8 months and I had a mobile recording rig that I would set up on days off in green rooms, hotel rooms or anywhere with power. Most of the songs were originally named after the city I was in when I started writing. I really tried to convey a unique feeling with the music, seizing the opportunity of being somewhere that I had never been and may never return to. The idea was that I would write and record the main elements of songs and send them to my friend and drummer Chris Velasco who was living in Phoenix Arizona.
While the songs themselves don't follow a typical pop writing structure, they do have an ebb and flow that is best consumed in it's entire listening experience.

2009-08-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

liner notes

Produced-Recorded -Mixed

James Northcross

Mastered By

Pete Lyman @ Infrasonic Sound

Guitar-Bass-Keys-Vocals

James Northcross

Drums

Chris Velasco

Track 9 Programming-Bass-Synth

Igloo

Track 9 Addtional Piano

Lisa Fowle

Art Direction

Frez

2009-08-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Synapse

I buried myself in myself
trying to find a better way to get away
Another face in the crowd
Another voice in my head that's got to come out
That's never breathed before
I've got synapse and sinew flesh and bone

Synapse and soft tissue
Its just muscle memory but I thought it was you
Because I feel you deep inside

(Deep inside) I need to feel you
Inside I bleed myself dry
Inside I need to feel you caress my mind

Sinew

Starved this atrophy is slowing me down
I tried to get away I keep falling
I don't want to tear myself apart
I try to make myself well
but its really fucking hard

Hallowed

If you whisper loud enough I'll feel
What tried is true
what's left inside of you
time and time again
Take take take... Take it all away

Hey you soaking int the rain
you washed it all away

I tried to erase you
I thought to replace you
Sifting through these memories of you

to cleanse this heart then to break it apart

Hey you soaking int the rain
I felt you drift away

There is a silver lining in every cloud you thought as you spoke aloud
Miss you , kiss you , hug you, love you, I'll write to you, I'll sing to you
charm you, chase you, move you, embrace you, I think of you if you promise too
Close your eyes hold your head high come inside and we will stay dry

Sand

It takes a truce, to make a mends to heal
I want them all so I can feel
give away all of your preconceptions
they stand too tall to see things true
wash away all of your dirty dealings
they cloud your heart And the day is through
And so are you

You are Where?

Sand falls like rain today
It's gone away and where were you?
It takes two I want to see what you would do
And no thanks to you
No sound at the bottom

Sand falls like rain today
This hour glass is still the same
so where were you?

Auditory Rorschach

Operatic

Truth Serum

Medicine Truth serum breathe it out take it in

I've tried you decide in this room who will hide
When your words ring hollow it's so hard to swallow
take your medicine

Do you sense this senseless babble
through your darkness I can see
When you don't know where to travel will you recognize your enemies
Let the dark die, bring in new light, when you don't speak its alright
I see you struggle trying to make it through to the other side
What are you hiding from
what are you so afraid of
You never take a stand to see just what you're made of

It Took Me Too

I've got nonsense stinging my head
Alone when the trained are not dead
You all use silly words and phase
I'm loved till the bitter end
you wanted to long
you want me to long for you
It takes you
it took me too

I waited so long all these pages holding on strong
Life speaks to god and you're god too.

I'm the last one to have heard
but it came from a busy bird
Ive longed to take you away
But I don't blame because
It's so logical
Where do you want to go
You take the back seat for you
Ive know the prettiest eyes like the ones you close
For what its worth to you

Poised lips

If you sting me you will die
rest your poised lips to mine
wherefore art thou fucking fear
rip my heart out with your lies my dear
tranquil eyes how tranquil our lies
our lies

I look in your eyes I see nothing I used to see
In pain is all I'll ever be
in close proximity

I've been on the ground falling to pieces
can you pick me up from the weight of your lessons
I am in too deep I still know your secrets
every word I keep
you still have your reasons

I feel I have lost completely every time you try to free me
anything is sometimes better
my heart holds myself together
in these moments I feel see through
I''ll do anything to see you
when I hit the ground I lost myself control

Broken Words

I'm addicted to you and everything you left behind
these candles are burning so fast I'm out of light
next time will you take me these shadows they break me
do unto me what you're thinking
do you need what I need
Goodness is worth saving and how are you paying
you've come too far to walk away
I've showed too much to mask the shame

There are days when all that's spoken
and the truth is I feel broken
All these stones that go to waste
an open mouth without taste
I have all this shit in me I feel so fucking guilty
Light a candle for the dead ones
mine burns brightest it has for so long
I have all this shit in me I feel so fucking empty

Left in Stitches

Time to open your eyes
It all melts away into the air
Soon it will disappear
you'll wonder why
how could it come to this
my perfect enemy

All my faith is gone

Strange how you disappear into the atmosphere
I love your autodophe
I wish you were here to fuck with me
my perfect enemy

All my faith is gone