Perfect Imperfection

'I began recording this album in August 2009. Although it wasn't my initial plan, it turned out to be a retrospective of my solo guitar compositions and arrangements, with songs spanning over twenty five years. It also became a step on a journey of personal and musical growth.' Tom Carleno 'Tom Carleno's Perfect Imperfection is an exercise in the humanity that makes us a work in progress. Perfect in our individuality, nuances and idiosyncrasies, this album... is a testament to artist growth and vision. Carleno takes us on a journey through grief, acceptance, horror movies, soul searches... and I enjoyed it immensely.' Dana Wright, muzikreviews.com Perfect Imperfection, the debut solo album by Tom Carleno, is more than simply a new musical project; it is a very personal work for the guitarist. In 2007 Tom realized that he was in a writing slump. While his band, Perpetual Motion, had been gigging and recording consistently, his songwriting had been decreasing for several years. The decline began in 1995, the year his mother died. When he realized how the loss had been affecting him he began on a path of self-discovery that wound it's way through grief, feelings of anxiety and self doubt, to a desire and resolve to record an album expressing himself as an artist. In August of 2009, Tom went into Colorado Sound Studios for the first of several recording sessions, and over the next three years he wrote, arranged, rehearsed and recorded eleven songs that would become Perfect Imperfection. The album was engineered by Steve Avedis and produced by Josie Quick, Tom's wife and musical partner in Perpetual Motion. Spanning over 25 years of his compositions, the CD is a retrospective of sorts of Tom's songwriting. The oldest song is Brief Encounter, a guitar duet, and the first fingerstyle song he ever penned. Written in 1985, it's a song about the pleasure and pain of an early relationship. Child's Play, another early song, was written in 1989 as a solo guitar piece. It was originally recorded in 1997 and appeared on Perpetual Motion's CD, Surfing On Cloud Nine. It has since become a duet featuring Josie playing the spoons. Two songs on the CD were composed for Tom's mother. Joan Carleno was an artist, and the song Timberline Tree was inspired by one of her paintings. Meet Me In Maui was written after a trip Tom and Josie took to the island in 2008. Maui was also a favorite destination for Joan. As a big fan of horror movies from the 1930s & '40s, Tom wanted to write a solo guitar piece reminiscent of the soundtracks from those classic films. The result is Rhapsody In Blood, a very haunting and eerie track. There are two brand new songs. In Seach Of and What A Difference A Day Makes were written specifically for Perfect Imperfection. Tom also pays homage to three of his favorite songwriters with his arrangements of John Lennon's Imagine, Al Stewart's On The Border and Tim Finn's Working Up An Appetite.