You think, what do you want? You think, make a decision! Why not stay and be caught? You think, well, it's a thought What would be his response? But then what if he knew Who you were when you know That you're not what he thinks That he wants?

You think, what do you want?

You think, make a decision!

Why not stay and be caught?

You think, well, it's a thought

What would be his response?

But then what if he knew

Who you were when you know

That you're not what he thinks

That he wants?

I can't believe this album came out in 2019! 😭

Le Bas-Fond · On The Steps Of The Palace (from Into the Woods)

 INTO THE WOODS is having its moment, so I thought this should finally have its, too.

 INTO THE WOODS is having its moment, so I thought this should finally have its, too.

Through the better part of 2018 and finishing in 2019, I worked on a musical theatre covers record. Inspired by Björk’s character in Dancer in the Dark (which is a film I have only barely been able to make it through once, and do not know if I can in good conscience recommend), I wanted to use musicals as a form of escapism. I wanted to scream about what had happened to me over the last few years prior. I wanted to scream and I wanted to name names and bleed every little fucking detail about the gross injustices that I had suffered through, but I couldn’t. I had been made to feel as though I wasn’t good enough–my credits weren’t good enough, my education wasn’t good enough, my voice wasn’t good enough, my body wasn’t good enough. That, I, ultimately, was not good enough.But I couldn’t tell those stories without getting myself in trouble, so, like Selma, I was going to let musicals do it for me.

If you knew what I was talking about, it read like a book. If you didn’t, it was just a collection of nice songs. I was so hard on myself during the course of this project; there was a lot (and I mean A LOT) of crying.

“On The Steps of the Palace” was a curious entry in this project. It, of course, fit very well thematically. It actually did a lot of heavy-lifting narrative-wise. But, as some of you may or may not know, I am not the biggest fan of Sondheim. I think his overuse of dissonance is too much, his themes of “*everyone* is secretly a selfish and bad person, and only *I* know this because I am….Not Like OTHER GIRLS” is TIRED. I actually think a lot of his scores are boring and his songs are just ugly. I think what is really good is really good, and what’s not is the warm end of your mineral water bottle. I generally think that he is overrated, but what I do enjoy of his, I do enjoy! I had seen the professionally filmed INTO THE WOODS from the original cast and thought it was dull. 

In 2017, -right- after all the shit had hit the fan, I saw a sensational local community theatre production that a bunch of my friends were in and I loved it! It was fun and funny and a lot of the humour which gets so often glossed over was really  very acutely rendered. Having Milky White be played by a person in one of those cute Japanese Kigurumi jammies was one of this production’s many funny, funny choices. It was beautifully sung, outrageously funny, and just FUN. It was a FUN production of people who loved what they were doing and they were having FUN, and the scene with Cinderella singing “On the Steps of the Palace” just clicked something inside my brain. I put a pin in it.

The fumbling around someone who wasn’t who I thought they were, who couldn’t get out of the their own way. The leaving clues instead of communicating with someone else like an adult. The trying to let the other person make the decisions. The all of it crashing down.

“On the Steps of the Palace” was one of the tracks on the record I was afraid of–Sondheim has such a reputation for being difficult, but his fans are even more unforgiving and difficult. All of the countless hours or trying to go over the rhythms, the key changes, ended up being useless. I put it off and put it off and put it off. I chipped away at the record one track at a time. Then, one day, I just decided to practice. It’s one of those songs that you get shot out of a cannon and there is no place to make mistakes or catch your breath, once you start, that’s it, you’re off. Nothing I had learned was relevant! I didn’t think about the meters or key changes(which, if I can be honest, I don’t even completely understand, haaaaaaaaaa), everything just shot out of my face and locked into place and two takes later, it was done.  It ended up being one of the easiest experiences of that whole record making process. It was a harrowing 2:43 experience, and then it was over, just like that. Ctrl + S. Done.

“On The Steps of the Palace” will be released as a single on April 19th, to commemorate a lot of things. I, thankfully, did not marry Mister Snow. INTO THE WOODS is having a moment, so I thought I would let this strange and happy little accident have its.