This is a dark one. Minor chords, melancholy builds. I love how it came out.

This is a Soft Cell cover. Soft Cell are so much more than their big hit "Tainted Love." They and Marc Almond's solo work and side group Marc & the Mambas were my favorite in junior high school. I spent a lot of time processing my emotions, most of which were pretty negative, listening to that music. Sometimes you need to walk through the dark a bit to see the light. There will probably be more Marc Almond covers from the Phantoms.

This song and a woman from my childhood neighborhood are the inspiration for the Maudlin Bitters character/ voice. I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles called Ladera Heights. On my street, there was a woman we kids called the "drunk lady." I'm sure you can imagine the behaviors to earn such a name from a juvenile perspective. Highball glass in hand mid-afternoon, bitterness, bitchiness, saccharine sweetness, kind and tender sweetness, powerlessness, fragility, fear, insecurity, incoherence, sometimes inexplicable exuberance.

She was rumored to be a former child actress in the 1930's and was in her late 50's in 80s Ladera, where I knew her, or rather very timidly observed her. My cat often snuck across the street and slept at her home. I was jealous- why didn't my cat want to be with me? I was 10 years old and the "drunk lady" was nice and cool, and yet not cool for shacking up with my cat. And an enigmatic, theatric, pretty, yet aged "has been" actress to boot. A real life "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane," hence the photo for this track.

I have vivid memories of her when Flashdance came out on cable, of her dancing and singing to "Maniac" in a skimpy orange bikini with her garden hose in her FRONT yard, across the street from my home, putting on a show. At 2:30 in the afternoon. When elementary school got out. Walking by. Highball glass in hand. Exuberant. Ah the LA 80s. Like I said, cool and not cool. Wish I could have known more about her.

Anyhow, Hollywood can be a bummer, and my own my brief and ill-fated career 10ish years later in the music business brought out the Maudlin Bitters in me. So I can relate to the "drunk lady." I could have easily become her.


So, about this recording: Emotion as described above aside, I really tried to go to the "edge" with vocals. Apologies if this sounds tame. Non-apologies if this sounds off key, psycho, not normal. I know I missed the mark on some high stuff, I kind of wanted to. I thought it fit the mood. The song is mysterious and melancholy, and I wanted to follow suit. If you make it to the 1:33 mark on this song, you might like it.

Please purchase the original version of this song: Soft Cell "Her Imagination"on iTunes.