“THREE QUARTERS BLIND EYES”/“FOUND A LITTLE BABY”

DRAG CITY/DOMINO, 1994

The ravishing debut single reveals a new Brian Wilson lurking on the fringes of the Chicago post-rock scene

I guess it was my first attempt at selfexpression, in a public sort of way. It was the result of a lot of years of working alone, working quietly. I had some ideas about what I might do once I finally got into a studio, ideas that were more… not grandiose, but outside of what was really at my disposal doing demos at home, or playing with a couple of other guys in the garage.

When the opportunity presented itself – that is to say, I had a little money to go into the studio – I was able to take a lot of those ideas that had been kicking around about how exciting it would be to be in a studio, making the kind of record I wanted to make. So I wrote that song [“Found A Little Baby”] and then I called up the studio, maybe the same day, and said, ‘Let’s go in and do it.’ I was really just following my instincts, and so it all happened kinda fast. We got in there, we recorded the basic track, and then I wrote an arrangement for it and we went back and laid that on top of it. It surprised me, because I wasn’t really sure if I’d be able to realise the sound I had heard in my head.

I used to pick up the NME and Melody Maker at the record store when I was, like, 15. So when I finally made it into one of those magazines, it was a great experience. Or even driving around in my car, I’d hear the record on college radio, it was exciting. And the other side of that was, ‘Well, now what?’ Could I do 12 more of these? I wasn’t sure.