Fiction Family Releases Studio Version of "When She's Near"

Fiction Family posted the studio version of their song "When She's Near" on their myspace page. At last! So to give it a listen, go here, or just visit their Myspace page.

It is pretty darn catchy. I wonder if this is going to be the lead single from the record, which will be self-titled.

I have to say I'm stoked and dying to hear what the final version of "Betrayal" will sound like. This project is beginning to come together, and I thought it'd be fun to look back and read how this collaboration came together. Here's the description that Jon Foreman first posted on the duo's myspace when they used to be "The Real SeanJon."

Hey amigos,

Welcome to Fiction Family! It's just Sean Watkins and myself, (jon foreman).

Though we both grew up in north county, the first time we met each other was only a few years back when our two respective bands played our first gig together. (Sean plays in a band called Nickel Creek and I play in a band called Switchfoot) To this day it was one of my favorite bills that I've ever been on: Nickel Creek, Switchfoot, Wilco, and REM... A few years later we ended up running into each other at a coffee shop up in Leucadia. We talked about writing a tune together (as everyone always does), and actually did, (which rarely happens!).

We called the song Betrayal.

Like many of the tunes on the record, Betrayal was recorded and written in parts. Because Nickel Creek and Switchfoot are both hard working touring acts, we were rarely home from tour at the same time. Consequently the tracks were passed back and forth between Sean and I. Whoever was home from tour would chip away at the songs with no real expectations at all, mainly just for ourselves and for the love of the song I suppose.

We came up with a few cowboy rules for the project: "No double tracking. No pussyfooting. No tuning of vocals." etc... With very few exceptions, every note was written, arranged, played, recorded, mixed, and mastered by sean and myself. This was not in an effort to keep anyone out, it was just the way it worked out- two musicians working on their own out of their own rudimentary home studios.

With this as our framework, we wanted to maintain a fairly organic landscape of sound. Even the programming on the record is derived from basic samples that we created ourselves. To me, when I listen to the songs I can close my eyes and picture the North County. Everything on this record was done within a few miles away from the coffee shop where this whole thing began.

Over the course of a few months the songs began to take shape. The three turned into six or seven. Pretty soon, with no real effort at all we had somewhat of an ep! We decided to track a few more songs and go all the way with this thing. So now, a year and a half later, we've got a full length record. A real record that we're really proud of.

We're going to call it fiction family.

Hope you dig it!
jon foreman

awesome!