We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Place Like This

by K. Edward Smith

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

about

"Place Like This" was written as part of a year-long songwriting challenge started in the Summer of 2019. This one is a folk-music inspired tune with a sparse arrangement featuring some new (to me) instruments including an old tenor banjo and a handmade cigar-box guitar. The banjo was handed down to my wife and me after her grandfather passed away. We figured we could give it a good home in the studio where it would be used to make music again. I knew I wanted to feature it on a new song, and actually wrote the melody using this banjo.

The guitar on the track is actually my first attempt at making a cigar-box guitar. She didn't turn out too pretty, and she was a bit of a bear to record, but when I got the guitar to cooperate, the results were really cool! I've always been interested in finding and making sounds that are uniquely mine: I don't want to sound exactly like another artist! I started digging into the work of composer Harry Partch and was fascinated by all of his handmade instruments. I figured a cigar-box guitar was a fairly accessible place to start experimenting with making my own instruments. For anyone interested in instrument making, check out the book "Making Poor Man's Guitars" by Shane Speal. Lots of good info to get you started in there!

The artwork is based on the frontispiece from a book published in 1911 called "In Northern Mists" by Fridtjof Nansen. Nansen was a professor of oceanography and in this volume he chronicles early Arctic exploration voyages. The whole book is actually in the public domain and is available for free download/reading at the internet archive.

Ever since I was a kid, I loved adventure and exploration stories. The great sci-fi/adventure author Jules Verne was (and honestly still is) one of my favorites. He had a couple of books that followed fictitious journeys into frozen wastelands (check out The Adventures of Captain Hatteras) and this illustration brought back so many memories of reading those stories; I just had to use it for this song! Beyond the references to cold in the lyrics, the arrangement is fairly sparse and I feel that the music evokes a sense of longing. That theme of longing (both for home and for achieving something) run rampant throughout these great adventure stories, so the artwork is a perfect fit.

If you're into folk-inspired, bluesy singer/songwriter tunes with dark sensibilities in the vein of songwriters like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tom Waits, and Leonard Cohen - this one's for you!

lyrics

Oh it's cold in a place like this
And I'm so very far from home

Oh it's cold in a place like this
And I left my coat at home
I need somewhere to hang my hat
Before they take me away

You grow old in a place like this
Waiting for your time to come
One last look at the sky above
Before they take me away

You sell your soul in a place like this
When your so very far from home
I need a pen to sign my name
Before they take me away

You grow cold in a place like this
They don't teach you that at home
One last look at the sky above
Before they take me away

credits

released January 17, 2020
Written, recorded, and produced by K. Edward Smith at Secondhand Studios in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

K. Edward Smith image

K. Edward Smith Fort Wayne, Indiana

Independent, honest, and human, Kyle “K. Edward” Smith is a heavy metal drummer-turned-folk songwriter whose writing blends the down-to-earth relatability of indie and folk songs with ideas from the musical margins, resulting in a mix of alt-Americana sounds all his own. ... more

shows

contact / help

Contact K. Edward Smith

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like K. Edward Smith, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Seafood Sam joins the show to discuss his newest album, " Standing On Giant Shoulders".
listen now