Album Notes

My name is John and I'd like to tell you about the record I've made with my cousin Matthew. Matthew is 33 years old and has not left his apartment since his 29th birthday. He is a very special person, unusually sensitive to the everyday stresses you and I take for granted, like crowds on the subway, unusually loud noises, even bright light. He is in every other respect a well-adjusted and normal person, even holding down a decent-paying job as a graphic designer. And in my opinion he is a phenomenally gifted songwriter, though he has had no formal training in any musical intrument. The way the record (which we've recorded under the name "Body & Monkey", after Matthew's childhood imaginary friends) came to be recorded was this: on one of my visits, I was playing Matthew some songs (or rather, riffs/chord progressions) on an acoustic guitar I'd brought with me when he spontaneously began to sing his own improvised lyrics over them. Up until that point, I'd had no idea that he was in any way musically inclined. I was completely astonished by the 'freestyling' he was doing, a lot of which was very funny, and suggested that we should record the resulting songs using pro-tools on Matthew's computer. Over the next few weeks we got together regularly, often recording as many as five or six songs in a single afternoon. We then culled out our fifteen favorites and had 100 cd's made; Matthew supplied the art for the sleeve. I think you'll agree that the result is pretty unique. Hope you enjoy it.