This past April, Portland-based singer-songwriter Jake William Capistran released his sophomore EP, the nostalgia-tinged, dream-chasing concept record The Rodeo. Featuring six well-crafted songs that are steeped in feelings and sounds of a time gone by while remaining relevant in the modern music landscape, moments of doo-wop mix with twangy rock and roll guitars and soulful organs—and it's all buttressed by Capistran's steady, effortless lyrics that easily paint pictures in your mind.
Recorded by Gene Forte at Lake Oswego's Blue Heron Recording Studio last summer, Capistran decided to utilize Forte's supportive space for a live performance of his debut EP's title track, "Goners," which is also his biggest success to date and a song that has garnered him almost 26,000 plays on SoundCloud and some 80,000 more on other streaming services.
Thinking about making a special live recording for a while, Capistran had "held onto the idea and the choreography, and after tracking at Blue Heron, I knew we had a great spot to finally make it happen," he says.
An ambitious live take that includes 11 other area musicians, "The instrumentalists are members of my current band, and the choir are friends of mine who I've gotten to know in some musical capacity," he continues. "And also, my sister! It was shot by a former bandmate, Lukas Nause, and was mixed by Cory West-Forbes, who also mastered my latest EP."
"I wrote 'Goners' in the winter of 2014 and it's one of those songs that came together really quickly," Capistran explains. "I had been composing the music for a couple of days, structuring it and layering all the different parts, and when it came time to write lyrics, the words just came pouring out.
"The song reflects on a few nights from that winter spent drunkenly trooping through snow-covered streets of Boston with friends and a romantic interest at the time. There's something incredibly peaceful about snowy nights in Boston, and I wanted to contrast that with the 'chaos and madness' of youth, the exuberance of new relationships and nights spent getting carried away."
