Behind the Title Track

When Johnny first discussed Clothes Lines with me, we immediately connected on the conceptual origins of the song.

The sound of a cable, or a clothes line.

This resonated with me deeply because, I had a similar experience to the one Johnny had after he first plucked his mother’s clothes line as a youth.

When I was a teenager, while hiking a mountain with my mother and sister, I struck a cable line going to a radio tower, with a long stick . The sound was totally unexpected, it made a remarkable long modulated sound effect I will never forget.

I was inspired to use this sound in some way as part of my musical experimentation using synthesizers then later, with digital samplers.

This cable sound is also similar to an experiment a friend in college showed me using an oven grill and some string.

Tying the string to the grill, wrapping it around my fingers, inserting my fingers into my ear canal then, striking the grill with various objects like silverware and a winding eggbeater.

It was truly unexpected, the sound penetrated right to my eardrum and resonated throughout my skull. I later replicated this experiment with picture wire instead of string, attached microphones on both sides and, added electronic percussion and synthesizer to create experimental music.

Not too long afterwards, I was watching a documentary on the making of Start Wars and saw how they made the sound for the laser blasters.

It was done by striking a cable!

So, I wanted to bring this concept into Johnny’s song.

I used various cable sounds and processing to replicate what Johnny may have heard that day when he first discovered the same sound after plucking his mother’s clothes line. I even added the sound of wind to give a realistic effect.