The recording of The Floating World was an amazing experience. When you step into a studio and feel at home, you know that the atmosphere of the place itself is going to become a part of the album. It is stunning the influence walls, lights, floors or other inanimate objects can have on a musical project, but even more influential were the people involved. Jeff Muller, our engineer, and Phil James, who mastered the project, both of whom are also excellent musicians, were instrumental in helping create what I view as the power of this disc.

From the beginning I knew I was wanting to capture a very particular sound, but the irony of my certainty was that I would only know it when I heard it! So I was beginning to construct my castle in the air with visions, dreams and auditory hallucinations. Sometimes feedback would provide inspiration at a live show, or a misplaced note would take us in a new direction.

But we needed to begin somewhere. The first several sessions were very similar to playing a live gig at a bar, except that we couldn't see everyone in the band, we didn't have a crowd, and there was no second-hand smoke. But it was LIVE! The majority of what you hear on the album is what you would hear when we are onstage. The only true overdubs are things like my harmony vocals, keyboards and violin, and that is simply because I only have one voice and one set of hands. If I could, I would do it all at once! The other members of the band enjoy spontaneous creativity and inspiration just as much as I do and only in one or two songs was a decision made to fine-tune a guitar solo or beef up a particular instrument, for example.

Photo by Ed Pfueller © 2002

Due to the talent of the band and our wonderful engineers at The Floating World Studio, the album developed a unique ethereal quality which could only be captured given the minds and circumstances working in concert. But perhaps even more wonderful is that machines did not make these sounds; the album is quite organic regardless of its polish. While we had many toys to play with and while Jeff certainly worked his magic ears on the mixes, we tended to stay with true instrumental sounds and honest performances.

Track 5, "Memories Won't Keep" and track 10, "When It's Done," were both recorded while I was sick with the flu. The rawness of my voice added a pathos to the songs which I felt was valuable and the tracks were never re-cut. Tracks 5 and 10 are also the two tracks on the album which are only me and my guitar.

Since the release of The Floating World these songs have continued to grow and change in performance, as they should. The beauty of being a songwriter and giving your creations to other musicians to add to and interpret, is that soon the songs develop a life and momentum of their own. Even more so they develop their own character and voice when people choose to adopt them and apply to them a meaning.

There is often a battle within me as to whether or not to tell the stories behind the songs, to expose MY meaning. The best conclusion I can come to is that certain songs are gifts to others and were only mine for a short time. To impose one vision of that song on others would be to deny everyone their own artistic vision. I believe we are all artists and to me art is more about interpretation than motivation.

But back to the construction of the album! I believe an album should be an entity, each part valuable to the whole. I think of great examples such as Pink Floyd's "The Wall," or Peter Gabriel's "The Last Temptation of Christ," when I think of albums that you can't easily divide. Certainly each song does stand alone as a song must, but you can't help but desire to hear the next one in the progression, to finish the story. The "story" does not have to be overt or direct, but overall I think it should feel as though the songs belong together somehow.

While I may be a fledgling when it comes to this concept, at the very least I know what I am aiming for. The ten songs on The Floating World seemed natural selections. It was as though the song order set itself, and the moods presented flowed in a particular and undeniable fashion. It will probably be many years before I even come close to achieving what I strive for in terms of creating an integrated and "whole" album, but there are artists whose albums seem to be a collection of songs they were ready to record; nothing more, nothing less. I have about seventy songs that could have been on this album, but just because they were written, didn't mean they BELONGED.

The Floating World is a reflection of my life during the year it was recorded and serves as an emblem for my development as a musician. The studio in which it was recorded (The Floating World Studio) is a professional, comfortable, creative place with progressive and innovative people inside its walls. Those words describe what I would wish my music to be, hence one reason for the title of the album. I would hope people will allow it to sink in and settle on their shoulders like a blanket. I would hope I have reached a certain level of maturity, and most of all I strive to respect the traditions from which all music comes while creating my own unique path.

Training and knowledge can only take you so far before your heart must prove its mettle. The Floating World is a collection of ten songs, some with the raw, exposed edges of my anger and others with the smooth polished surfaces of my happiness. I have seen both and most of what lies between. I will forever allow my music to be a mirror for my "madness."

-Hilary Scott, August 15, 2002