Song of the Day: Paleo Performs His 'Song Diary' [Wed at Trophy's]

Paleo, aka David Strackany, literally went solo back in 2004 when he recorded the self-released Misery, Missouri. But much of his body of work, prolific as it is in volume, confronts the same problems regarding the less literal aspect of the act of ‘going solo.’ Paleo’s project seems a sort of handshake, if not a stilted embrace, with the less than voluntary nature of solitude.

So it’s especially fitting in the ‘make our garden grow’ school of human coping that David took on this Goliath theme with a marathon project he calls the Song Diary; from 2006 to 2007, Strackany wrote a song every day and recorded them on his laptop while traveling across the country playing a dizzying 215 show tour.

Many of the 365 songs that make up the Song Diary were written and recorded on a half-size guitar Strackany found to lend itself to the cramped conditions of composition in the car. But although the media has made much of the demands of his rigorous daily songwriting project itself, both the diminution of his instruments and recording equipment and the breathlessness of the road lend themselves particularly well to showcasing Strackany’s singular vocals and cutting lyrics. It’s one achievement to write a song a day, but quite another to do what Paleo has done- write songs worth listening to day after day.

You can catch Paleo’s live performance tonight at Trophy’s, and download tracks from the Song Diary from the links below:

----
Paleo [Myspace] [Official]