From Dave Depper (The Decemberists/Mirah/Musee Mecanique) comes ‘The Ram Project’, a personal venture that saw him reconstruct Paul McCartney’s solo album ‘Ram’, piece by piece (even down to the album cover!) at home by himself in 30 days. The multi-instrumentalist from Portland, Oregon will release the album on August 22nd through City Slang. You can download Depper’s version of ‘Too Many People’, take from the album, below:
Having previously recorded and toured the world with internationally-renowned artists as well as beloved Portland institutions (including Loch Lomond, Norfolk & Western and Blue Giant) Depper felt that it was time that he recorded something of his own. “I was in a rut,” Depper explains. “I’d played on and helped produce dozens of different records, but I’d had yet to follow through with completing anything of my own. I knew that I needed to do something – anything – to prove to myself that I was capable of finishing something that I’d started.” So, over the course of one month, in his spare bedroom, Depper began obsessively hacking away at the record, often working marathon 12-hour sessions at a time. He had a couple of guitars, a keyboard, a Rickenbacker bass, and a laptop. Lacking drums, he borrowed a kit from a friend and, having only one microphone, recorded each drum individually and brought in fellow Portlander Joan Hiller to perform Linda McCartney’s prominent harmony vocals.
And 31 days after recording began; ‘The Ram Project’ was finished. Beautifully mixed as true to the original as possible by Beau Raymond (Devendra Banhart, Little Joy, Laura Gibson) and expertly mastered by Tony Lash (Elliott Smith, Death Cab for Cutie, Dandy Warhols), ‘The Ram Project’ is almost eerie in its resemblance to ‘Ram’ itself. “When I had it playing in the background in my house it was, at times, unnervingly like having the original on,” says Lash.
