John Booker, of North Carolina triangle band I Was Totally Destroying It, had about 35 songs and, much like any working musician, not much time to do anything with them.

The story of Preludes begins here, before its time – six years before, to be precise. Originally planned to be material for a new I Was Totally Destroying It release, when the band decided to take a much more collaborative approach to their upcoming album (Vexations, due out in late 2011) Booker shelved most of the material, intending to save it for a future release or solo record, feeling it no longer fitted the feel of the new full-length. But when discussion began about a single or EP to release as a precursor to the new full-length, Booker brought the songs to the band. “Before we started writing Preludes, I had Joe and Rachel sit down in our practice room with pencil and paper and I stood in front of them with just an acoustic guitar. I ran through all 35 ideas and they marked down their thoughts on each and voted. That’s how we picked which songs we’d tackle.”

The result, after some being heavily reworked, others remaining relatively intact, grew from a single to an EP to a full album of its own accord, born of the kind of musical camaraderie only the closest of artists achieve, and I Was Totally Destroying It ended up with two diverse sets of material. There’s a bit of crossover, the songs greatly benefited from being polished up by the full group (particularly on the final two tracks: “Fight/Flight”, a standout contribution by vocalist/keyboardist Rachel Hirsh, and “The Key & The Rose”, which bring a perfect finale and bridge to the forthcoming Vexations), but Preludes is at its core largely a collection of ideas Booker had left unfinished from as far back as 2004.

The songs focus mostly on themes of alienation, introspection, and anxiety; environs that I Was Totally Destroying It thrive in. Six years worth of music that just didn’t fit anywhere else, painstakingly (and expertly) rewritten and refocused into a fully realized album that defies concept, a natural flow born of chaos and entropy, the start and end of the writing process. And a prelude to something bigger just on the horizon…

I Was Totally Destroying It Spring 2011 Tour:
03.25 Sandy Springs, GA – North River Tavern
03.26 Auburn, AL – The Independent
03.27 New Orleans, LA – Circle Bar
03.28 Houston, TX – Mango’s Cafe
03.29 Austin, TX – Emo’s
04.01 San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
04.02 San Francisco, CA – The Hemlock Tavern
04.05 Long Beach, CA – The Blue Cafe
04.06 San Fancisco, CA – El Rio
04.07 Medford, OR – Johnny B’s
04.09 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
04.11 Salt Lake City, UT – Burt’s Tiki Lounge
04.12 Boulder, CO – The Rock n’ Soul Cafe
04.13 Omaha, NE – Slowdown
04.14 Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
04.15 Minneapolis, MN – The Beat
04.16 Chicago, IL – Elbo Room
04.17 St. Louis, MO – Lemmon’s
04.18 Newport, KY – The Southgate House
04.21 Raleigh, NC – Sessions at Studio B

Check out I Was Totally Destroying It in Performer’s October issue.