Myths and Hymns

In the lockdown of 2020, Gleason faced a creative roadblock. After an intense seven months of completing five albums with various musicians but without playing live, he feared his creative voice would not grow if he didn’t embrace a new musical environment in some way. Being in admiration of artists reinterpreting other artists’ complete works — notably The Bad Plus’ Rite of Spring and Miles Davis’ Porgy and Bess — Gleason decided to work out guitar arrangements for songs he loved from Adam Guettel’s Myths and Hymns.

To a young Gleason, Myths and Hymns was an album of gorgeous singles, over which he and his brother would obsess, mixed with odd fly-over tracks. In approaching the music later as a more experienced listener and composer, he had the goal of playing these in a way he enjoyed. He therefore saw two opportunities: in the first, he would honor the songs he already loved as they were, but within the context of his trio’s sound and leaving room for improvisation; in the second, he would present the melody, harmony, and form but subvert timbral or stylistic elements in hopes that the radical shift would create stronger musical statements to him.

The album was recorded in June 2021 over the course of two days at Bass Clef Studio in Bowie MD with Artie Sadtler on bass, Olaolu Ajibade on drums, and Vincent Othieno engineering the session. After altering effects and meticulous tone crafting, the 16 songs were sent to be mixed and mastered by Sean Gotkin in Washington DC. With the masters at the ready in April 2022 and with a letter explaining his musical intentions with the album, he emailed the album and the letter to labels. The letter reads as follows:

“Adam Guettel’s Myths and Hymns — a song cycle that stands out in the musical theater world for its adventurous harmony, memorable melodies sung by vocal powerhouses, and quirky and challenging arrangements — has been turned on its head. Prolific guitarist and composer Garrett Gleason, known for his role as guitarist of The SpongeBob Musical 1st National Tour as well as his work with Garcia collaborator Sanjay Mishra, reimagined Guettel’s masterpiece as a turbulent work for guitar, bass, and drums. The album honors and celebrates the original themes while presenting them in nearly opposite lights, ranging from aggressive and explorative to quiet and self-assured. Sometimes teetering on an aggressive form of jazz; sometimes contemplative post-rock; always Myths and Hymns.

The resulting body of music paints Guettel’s world with darker colors and more aggressive strokes. Themes that represented each character in one light now force the listener into reexamining the characters’ attitudes and intentions: How Can I Lose You? turned from a happy celebration of love to a frustrated plea; Pegasus from a quirky and misunderstood horse to a confident and triumphant creature; The Great Highway now a treacherous and difficult path to travel to join the gods.

With his reinterpretation, Gleason hopes to encourage music lovers from seemingly opposite ends of the musical universe to embrace the other side. Experimental rock enthusiasts can take inspiration from musical theater’s strong melodic sensibility and fearless arrangement practice, and the world of theater can look to the attitudes and textures of heavy and angular music genres to retell their stories. All music exists in the same world, and Gleason hopes to help make that world a bit smaller and inspired to embrace each other.”

Among those recipients was Concord Theatricals, who were emailed regarding obtaining mechanical licenses for the songs. In wanting to protect the composer’s work, Concord’s team sent the album and letter to Adam Guettel to ask what should be done. Guettel opened the link to privately stream the album, and then reached Gleason with an email:

“Dear Garrett,

[Redacted] forwarded me your letter and the link to your reimagining of Myths and Hymns. I just listened from top to bottom and I am moved to tears by what you made of it. I would never have imagined that body of songs working so well as a guitar, bass and drums trio, or so emotionally. Of course, the power is thrilling, but you have a gift as an arranger, or maybe reinterperator is a better word, for tenderness, melancholy, humor and many other things which don’t generally tug the heart in a rock configuration. Plus, your chops are sick!

I have, predictably, some suggestions here and there, most having to do with the mix and some of the guitar effects on which you occasionally lean a little too much. Would you have some time in the next week to discuss your work and how we might proceed to help you with your wonderful project?

Warmest regards and many thanks!
Adam”

After some emails back and forth followed by a lengthy video call, Guettel invited Gleason to his home studio in NYC for two days in August 2022 to address his mixing and effects notes with his audio engineer, Finn George. Half the songs were addressed including a reimagining and rerecording of the album’s closing song, Saturn Returns (Reprise).

The album was remastered by Sean Gotkin at his home studio in Herndon VA to its final form.