your question:

09/14/2022

Wanted to ask you about Phlegmatics. Being that it’s a tone row, did you have guitar doubling the vocal so that Patton wasn’t on an island alone singing a thorny serial melody, which can be quite challenging for an “untrained” singer, or was that the arrangement from conception?
Also, do you remember where the idea came from to split the drums into two distinct tracks (panned hard L & R) in that short part before the intro beat kicks in again? That effect of two drummers simultaneously playing/improvising different parts is one of my favorite moments on DV. Thanks for the two minute masterpiece, Trevor. Warm wishes from L.A.

My answer:

It was a choice of orchestration — guitar and voice in unison over an unrelated drum beat.
I believe the idea of the separated drum sets came to me in the studio continuing with the idea of the drums being in their own world (as the bass essentially is in this section, too (at least rhythmically). I don’t remember if it was a forethought or if it came about by “accident”.