How did you know it was me?
Piano by Shameema Soni, strings by Ben Hartt, drum programming and guitar by Paul Pfisterer, percussion by Rob Berger
How did you know it was me? is a song Paul and I called “ice-tro,” as it was meant to be an extended introduction of ice hotel. I often thought of my sister when I played around with the piano motifs on this- when we were teens she loved Chopin, and would listen to his pieces just before bed. When we were younger, we would play a game involving different characters she created, one of whom was called “Villain” who would possess other characters and impersonate them, until I would figure out what he was up to. I’d screech out “villain!!!” and she’d say “how did you know it was me…?” I guess you had to be there…

Ice Hotel
Vocals and strings by Ben Hartt, bass by Paul Pfisterer, drums and percussion by Rob Berger, guitars by Nathan Handy, piano by Shameema Soni
This song is one of my rare love songs, which was inspired by someone I love dearly- one of the sweetest and most giving people I know. It’s about home- and I guess about feeling cold and empty without having a sense of home.

Disposable Love
Vocals by Ben Hartt, backing vocals by Julie Mahendran, acoustic bass by Paul Pfisterer, drums and percussion by Rob Berger, guitars by Nathan Handy
I wrote this song on Valentine’s Day 2002, about a month before I moved from Edmonton to Toronto. This is a love song – perhaps a bittersweet one, and a reflection of modern society- how things and people are so easily replaced. It portrays a man who didn't know how to express or show his love, and has come to regret it. In the song, he's trying to rectify his inabilities. This version is also the second one of disposable love, which featured the vocals of Elise Besler and a prominent piano, but it wasn’t quite the style I was after. The song had to contain, as Paul has said “warm tones.”

Devil Boy
Vocals and organ by Ben Hartt, backing vocals by Elise Besler, bass, guitars and shaker by Paul Pfisterer, drums and percussion by Rob Berger, piano by Shameema Soni
This was one of the first songs Paul and I recorded together. The original version was very 80s influenced a la INXS or Prince, which I loved, but after recording the rest of the album, I felt we needed to get rid of any synthetic parts and make it more old school rock and roll, while still keeping a dancy feel. I've often wondered if this song and love you so are 2 songs that belong on another album. But I love the songs, and couldn’t bear the thought of having to perform a whole new album of sad slow songs. If I had the money, I would have made a double album- one slow, one fast. It’s harder to have a slower paced album with 2-4 up-tempo numbers than the other way around. It just goes to show how much you can do on an album by using the same instruments in different ways.

Paging Batman
Vocals by Ben Hartt, bass and guitars by Paul Pfisterer, drums and percussion by Rob Berger, piano by Shameema Soni
I’m almost embarrassed to admit that this song was written just after 9/11: embarrassed because I didn’t want to join the bandwagon of songwriters writing about that particular day. Still, I feel the song has a broader appeal in that many people are disillusioned by the politics of today, and by the lack of hope in the world. Which is why, I think, we like comic books, and fairy tales, and (some) Hollywood –ending type movies- they help us to escape, and to believe that there is hope. It’s funny because I am more cynical than most people I know, and I don’t have a lot of hope after what we’ve done to the planet and to each other, so I guess here I’m begging for someone like Batman to prove me wrong.

Anniversary
Vocals by Ben Hartt, piano by Heather, guitar by Nathan Handy, cello by Felix Deak
I don’t need to say much about this song. I wrote it a year after a break-up.

If I Fall
Vocals by Ben Hartt, piano by Mike Manny
This is about being raised by my Mom and how I feel about our relationship.

Seeker
Vocals and strings by Ben Hartt, backing vocals by Julie Mahendran, bass by Paul Pfisterer, drums by Rob Berger, guitars by Nathan Handy and piano by Shameema Soni
The song seeker is different, in its meaning, from the album title. This song is ultimately about greed and selfishness, particularly in the corporate world. I wrote the melody, with different lyrics, (in a song called “Something is so Wrong”) in 1997, and have been regularly modifying it since. To be honest, I think it’s in the wrong key for my voice, but it was too late (and too expensive) to do anything about it. I’m happy with the song in general, but it has never felt quite right to me. This is probably the fourth vocal version of the song, and it brought out the worst in my perfectionism. I had to just let it go.

Panic Attack
Vocals by Ben Hartt, bass and guitars by Paul Pfisterer, drums by Rob Berger, piano by Shameema Soni
I wrote this in 2000 while on a relationship “hiatus,” which didn’t last very long. I remember where I wrote the lyrics too. I was on the patio of a Second Cup on Jasper Avenue in Edmonton. I think the lyric “I feel just like a boomerang that you throw” sums it all up, not to mention being a tribute to my beloved Australia. It’s about being addicted to someone and freaking out when you’re without them. We wanted to keep the production very simple. I like this song. It’s as hard rock as I’ll probably ever get…

Hurt
Vocals by Ben Hartt, piano by Mike Manny
I still don’t know what I think of this song. I’m happy with the melody, to be sure, but the lyrics portray me in a very pathetic, “poor me,” one-sided kind of light. I didn’t want to include this song on the album, and kind of still wish I hadn't. I thought it was too personal, and rather irrelevant to my current life, but at the insistence of my sister-in law, Marcia, I re-evaluated, and remembered someone tell me that interesting music is usually honest music. And in this song I was certainly being honest in how I felt a few years ago.

Dear Mr. Hussein
Vocals by Ben Hartt, acoustic bass, guitars and programming by Paul Pfisterer, drums and percussion by Rob Berger
I wrote this song in April 1999 after the Columbine high school shooting. After the Iraq invasion in March 2003, I felt it was appropriate to include this song, with updated and altered lyrics, which are not anti-American at all, for the record (nor am I), but a question about guns and what they do. It’s my tribute to Michael Moore. Regardless of how people feel about him, or the accuracy of his reporting, I think he is an important person in the US, certainly in Canada (as we are directly affected by America) and possibly the world. He has the balls to voice opposition to corporations and governments influenced by corporations. He certainly is a needed balance to the well-organized and well-funded questionable reporting on the right side of the spectrum.We need discussion, and provocation of thought, which is why I have included this song. We need to discuss weapons and war, and why the two exist. Though I believe in gun control, I’m starting to believe in the philosophy of the right to bear arms, since governments seem so corrupt, and we’re only one step away from corporation-dictatorships that may, one day, incite revolution.

Love You So
Vocals by Ben Hartt, bass, percussion, keyboard and guitars by Paul Pfisterer, drums by Rob Berger, piano by Shameema Soni, organ by Adam Messinger
Also one of the first songs we recorded, slightly modified towards the end of the recording process to fit in better with the other songs. I’m not sure that it does fit in, as I mentioned earlier, but it is one of my favorite songs that I have written. It’s happy, fun to perform live, and so far, people either really like it or they hate it. Marcia hates it. My sister loves it…