"Canvas" appears on the new Miracle Orchestra release Forks, Bends & Spoons. Drummer Bill Carbone talks about his perception of the song and its evolution.

Canvas

Canvas is one of my favorite tunes to perform because it's a bit like taking a trip around the world. Also, Canvas is one of our most compositional songs as well as being one of our strongest improvisational pieces. When we first began playing Canvas we couldn't improvise on it at all, it was just too hard! Since then, Canvas has slowly become one of the tunes that best represent our sound and diversity.

The song's introduction is slow and brooding - it reminds me of the Miles Davis Quintet of the mid 60's. There is quite a bit of space with loose accentuation and coloration. When we play it live it slows everything down a bit. Canvas immediately picks up with the second section that is based off of West African Djembe rhythms. I play what I think is the most circular groove in the world - 6/8 with overlapping groups of two eighth notes. The effect of the overlapping is kind of like a hinge, two solid parts that connect on each end. The guitar and bass play a pattern in 7/8 over top of my 6/8 which eventually line up together. The sax melody has a call and answer pattern (I'm the answer) that I really love. This segues into the guitar and sax melody that is Canvas's main theme.

Somehow, a quirky reggae section finds it's way out of all this rhythmic banter. Then, after flirting with the reggae, the whole tune opens up for a guitar solo over a tribal 6/8 groove. This open section is definitely one of my favorite Miracle Orchestra pieces to play. The drum part is my bread and butter, probably the most "me" sounding thing that I can conjure. I use my toms melodically over top of a bass drum and cowbell groove to interact with Geoff's guitar solo, and together we build it from almost nothing to a thundering climax. Finally, we restate Canvas's main theme and bring the train to a stop.

I'm very proud of the song Canvas. It doesn't sound like anyone else's music; it's all ours. It excites me to look back at what a challenge it was to play it two years ago and to know what a joy it is to play it today. Canvas has little bits and pieces of so many different styles of music that I love - African, Reggae, Jamband, Jazz - but they're all eaten up and spit out in our way.

Listen to Canvas