I have been dreaming about, planning, and re-working my rather obsessive idea of this record for well over twenty-five years, and it was always going to be called Lovers. It is meant to be as personal in its sound and in its song selection as it is universal in its endeavor to assay or map the parameters of “mood” as it once pertained, and currently pertains, to the peculiar and powerful connection between sound/song and intimacy/romance. In this, I hope Lovers offers something of an update of the “mood music” idea and ideal, while celebrating and challenging our iconic notion of romance.

—NELS CLINE

SIDE ONE

1. Introduction / Diaphanous 4:23

music by Nels Cline

2. Glad To Be Unhappy 4:07

music by Richard Rodgers / lyrics by Lorenz Hart

3. Beautiful Love 3:58

music by Wayne King, Victor Young & Egbert Van Alstyne / lyrics by Haven Gillespie

4. Hairpin & Hatbox 3:32

music by Nels Cline

5. Cry, Want 6:53

music by Jimmy Giuffre

SIDE TWO

1. Lady Gabor 8:26

music by Gabor Szabo

2. The Bed We Made 3:25

music by Nels Cline

3. You Noticed 4:01

music by Nels Cline

4. Secret Love 4:30

music by Sammy Fain / lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

5. I Have Dreamed 2:39

music by Richard Rodgers / lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

SIDE THREE

1. Why Was I Born? 5:04

music by Jerome Kern / lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

2. Invitation 2:26

music by Bronislaw Kaper / lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

3. It Only Has To Happen Once 5:45

music and lyrics by Arto Lindsay & Peter Scherer

4. The Night Porter / Max, Mon Amour 8:13

music by Daniele Paris (The Night Porter) / music by Michel Portal (Max, Mon Amour)

SIDE FOUR

1. Snare, Girl 6:35

music & lyrics by Sonic Youth

2. So Hard It Hurts / Touching 6:53

music by Annette Peacock

3. The Search For Cat 2:33

music by Henry Mancini

4. The Bond 5:48

music by Nels Cline

NELS CLINE: electric & acoustic guitars, lap steel, effects

DEVIN HOFF: contrabass, bass guitar

ALEX CLINE: drumset, percussion

STEVEN BERNSTEIN: trumpet, slide trumpet, flugelhorn, alto horn

TAYLOR HASKINS: trumpet, flugelhorn, valve trombone

MICHAEL LEONHART: trumpet, flugelhorn, cymbalon, celeste

ALAN FERBER: trombone, bass trombone

CHARLES PILLOW: C, alto, & bass flutes, oboe, English horn, alto saxophone, Bb clarinet

JD PARRAN: C, alto, & bass flutes, Bb clarinet, alto clarinet, baritone & bass saxophones

BEN GOLDBERG: contra-alto clarinet, Bb clarinet

DOUGLAS WIESELMAN: bass clarinet, Bb clarinet, tenor saxophone

GAVIN TEMPLETON: Bb clarinet, alto saxophone

SARA SCHOENBECK: bassoon

JULIAN LAGE: acoustic & electric guitars

KENNY WOLLESEN: vibraphone, marimba, percussion

ZEENA PARKINS: harp

YUKA C HONDA: celeste, Juno 60

ANTOINE SILVERMAN: violin

JEFF GAUTHIER: violin

AMY KIMBALL: viola & violin

STEPHANIE GRIFFIN: viola

ERIK FRIEDLANDER: cello

MAGGIE PARKINS: cello

arranged and conducted by MICHAEL LEONHART

produced by DAVID BRESKIN

recorded and mixed by RON SAINT GERMAIN

LISTEN TO LOVERS: