This song features many friends from over the years and takes a break from the song focus of the other releases.
I wanted to include at least one instrumental (or at least not song-based) on the Perfectly Strange album, but I struggled with a good concept to work on.
Reflecting upon the month it would be released my mind drifted to fishing. Hot lazy days and thick weedy waters by the shore mean you resort to alternative methods to connect with a fish. A topwater frog is designed to skip over lily pads and lake scum without getting tangled up. This lure looks mostly like a standard frog but hides a pair a gnarly hooks. Its weirdness and simplicity made me giggle and I now had a theme for the Summer’s Almost Gone song.
So now I started collecting various friends speaking the phrase “Topwater Frog” into their phones. Nice Machine drummer Eric McDowell was the first to contribute, followed by guitar mentor Steve Edge, Life Partner Stephanie Abercrombie, and genetic offspring S.E.A.
Longtime collaborator Chris Vandorford offered some Synths and gurgling sounds to fit the marshy theme. Finally, my oldest friend Lucy Daigle supplied a collection of real-life frog choruses from the various wetlands around Athens, GA.
Finally, Finally, I drew a picture of the aforementioned Frog and asked PhotoShop AI to supply a few others. You can see the strangled whiskered AI frogs in the background.
