Title	Lyrics	Listen
1. Home Isn't Home
2. Zanzibar Sands
3. Seaglass
4. The Deepest Secret
5. Lake of the Coheeries
6. Red Umbrella
7. Almost Twilight
8. Make It Simple
9. Diamonds on a String
10. Dedication
11. The Family Way
12. Rock and Kite
13. Ready for Luck
14. If There Ever Was a Time

"Home Isn't Home" is the first CD with Cindy and me singing together. It's a response to your requests that we create a full length album of what we do on stage.

Here are answers to some questions folks have been asking about the CD:

"Lake of the Coheeries" is an unusual name for a song. What is it about? Lake of the Coheeries is a place name in the novel "Winter's Tale". I wrote the song when the book first appeared in the mid '80s, and sent a copy to Mark Helprin, the author, on a cassette. I included a note saying 'Here's the movie theme for Winter's Tale!". Mr Helprin kindly wrote back that there was no such film being planned as of then, but he loved the song and would keep it in mind. Fast forward some twenty-five years, and we've recorded "Lake of the Coheeries" for "Home Isn't Home", this time as a duet. I sent this new version to Mark, and we talked on the phone. He told me that "Winter's Tale" is, after all this time, becoming a movie, directed by Akiva Goldsman, (A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code, etc). It seems that when he was in high school in the 1980's, Akiva loved "Winter's Tale" and decided he would one day make a movie of it. It's now shooting in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and stars Russell Crowe, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Connally, and Will Smith, among many others. It's going to be a great movie! "Lake of the Coheeries" has always been a perfect theme for the film, and we are contacting the folks there to have it considered as the song that plays as the credits roll. On the CD artwork, songs one through seven are grouped separately from songs eight through fourteen. Why is this?I miss the old days of records. There was always side one, and then side two. And this convention goes way back. In concerts and the theater -- there is always Act One, a break, and then Act Two. So on this CD, the dividing point is there, even though you don’t turn over the disc. Besides this, “Almost Twilight” (seven) is an instrumental—call it intermission. And “If There Ever Was a Time” is the very last song: it’s set apart because we think of it as the ‘encore’. It’s all part of the music concept behind this particular CD.

These days, songs are often presented to an audience as single entities—for instance on the internet. But there’s a lot to be said for a larger work, with each song supporting the others. Together, the whole thing makes a complete experience. So “Home” was created as an entire mood. If you have the time, it is best heard that way, with ‘intermission’ in the middle! In what other ways is "Home Isn't Home" like a live show? The core of the CD, like the show, is our two voices and my one guitar. In fact, Cindy and I performed most of the songs singing and playing together in one room-- a live performance. Players create an immediacy and spontaneity when they play together- with eye contact, and all the communication that that entails. But many CDs are made quite differently nowadays. On many pop records, live performance is minimized: the parts are played separately, overdubbed one instrument at a time. It's easy for all that creative mojo juice to get lost in favor of creating a mistake-free record. The live performance concept is also expressed this way: other than a simple rhythm section, we did not add guest players. We stuck with the core idea: one guitar, two voices. Is there a unifying theme to the lyrics on the CD? Well, yes and no. The song “Home Isn’t Home” is about how life forces us to change—hopefully to grow. Many of the songs are about life changes. “Zanzibar Sands”, for instance, is about how when we start as children, there’s no way to know who we might become as time passes. Other songs ignore this theme, like “Lake of the Coheeries”--but because of how they’re grouped, they add meaning to each other. It’s like putting interesting people next to each other at a dinner party-- the whole becomes greater than the individual parts. Did you write all the songs on the CD? Yes, with the exception of "If There Ever Was a Time". This was written by my old friend Andy Schulman, who I used to play with in Boston in the 1980's. Cindy and I have always loved singing that song, and Andy kindly gave us permission to include it. Can you tell us about the photographs on the front and back covers? Cindy and I were looking for ideas for cover art that would communicate "Home Isn't Home"—the sense of loss and loneliness combined with the knowledge that we belong to the larger universe. We wanted it stated in a visual way. We were on the web looking at photos of abandoned houses, and came across this. We pretty much immediately knew it would be perfect. We hunted around for the photographer and found that that shot was taken by an Icelandic photographer named Örvar A. Þorgeirsson. His website is full of incredible nature photography. We had some issues getting in touch with Örvar, but our friend Neil Shelley lives in Sweden and actually found Örvar's cellphone number and negotiated the rights to the photos for us. So we lucked out there.

Rubato's music is calm and contemplative. These guitar pieces create a perfect atmosphere for rainy afternoons, conversation, or drinking tea while staring out the window - yet they are also engrossing enough to turn up, close your eyes, and listen to closely.

"Whenever I have such a bad day that I wonder if I've ever done anything worthwhile, I remember the people who have contacted me about how they enjoy Rubato. I have received letters about how this music has been used for cancer recovery, weddings - even a bridal bath (not sure what that is...) as well as for massage and other rituals. One woman wrote to tell me that her daughter insisted on having this music on as part of her 'going to sleep' routine for some years. More than one person keeps Rubato in their car to calm frayed nerves during traffic snarl-ups. I can't tell you how gratifying it is to know this music is serving others."

Rubato
on CDBaby

An album of stories and songs. The sounds vary from intimate to huge, from simple guitar and vocal to a full band with drums, bass, Hammond B3, and all the fixins". A few highlights:

"Companion" has a French horn trio courtesy of symphony player Eric Aachen, while "Deep Shade" is layered with beautiful textures added by famed Latin percussionist John Santos -- And "Leftover Dreams" rocks with lead guitar and bass added by Scruffy the Cat members Steve Fredette and Mac Stanfield.

"I really enjoyed having guests and friends add their special talents to the songs. There were a few, though, where all those lovely textures were best left off. For instance, the song "Practice Makes Perfect" was originally recorded with two electric basses, background vocals and keyboards; but in the end I laid that version aside because the lonely feeling of the song came across better when it was left unadorned. On the other hand "Companion" is a mariner's tale, and Eric's horn calls created an incredible oceanic effect that just makes the song for me."

Practice Makes Perfect
on CDBaby

A work of art is often defined by what it is not.

On this CD we limit ourselves to the small palette of instruments we use at a live show.  A photographer creates a different kind of composition if he restricts himself to black and white.  By the same token, when musicians choose fewer instruments, they have to use them more inventively .

So here we have--with very few exceptions--just one guitar, our two voices, and a simple rhythm section. We find simplicity truly does rock. Folks appreciate my guitar’s “voice” and our vocal blend, and often mention the space between the notes as key to what we do. It’s a delicate texture, and easily covered up.  So we have done our best to preserve it: we have avoided layers of extra guitars, multiple voices, sequenced synthesizers, horn sections, guest soloists playing bagpipes and castanets, and extended choreographed dance numbers.

But within these self-imposed limitations, we have applied great effort to create a wide range of emotions and moods. Here are three songs from the CD in their entirety. You can hear excerpts from the entire CD and read more about the making f "Home" by clicking this link: http://www.marklemaire.com/#homeisnthome
 

... has been performing on guitar since he was twelve. Originally from New England, by high school he was writing songs and playing the coffeehouses in Boston and Cambridge. At 23, his musical world changed when he landed a job as a recording engineer at the legendary Euphoria Sound. As a staff engineer, Mark learned his studio chops with producer Jimmy Miller, who produced The Rolling Stones, Blind Faith, Traffic, and the Spencer Davis Group. He also did sessions with the wild and infamous Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls, as well as 80’s college radio darlings Scruffy the Cat.

Mark moved to the San Francisco area in 1985, planning to perform more and engineer a little less. He opened for Maria Muldaur at the legendary Sweetwater in Mill Valley, and for Steve Seskin and Even Dozen Jug Band founder and folk icon Stefan Grossman at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, but then tendonitis forced Mark to perform a little less and engineer a little more.

Since then, Mark has recorded artists ranging from Latin quartet Cascada de Flores to experimental metal band Neurosis, as well as folk and rock artists of every stripe. Between sessions, he found time to record his guitar solo CD "Rubato, Pieces for Guitar", as well as many of the songs that have now appeared on "Practice Makes Perfect".

In the mid 90’s, Mark began to engineer a different kind of music. He found himself in the cloistered world of classical and early music recording. He's recorded the San Francisco Symphony, the Santa Rosa Symphony, and many other classical groups. Find out more about Mark’s recording life at RubatoRecording.com.

Since his divorce in 2004, Mark revitalized his life yet again. He completed "Practice Makes Perfect" in 2008. Mark began performing with Cindy van Empel as Mark Lemaire and Twilight in 2009. In autumn 2012, they released their first CD as a duo- "Home Isn't Home". Listen to selections from "Home" here http://www.marklemaire.com/home.html#homeisnthome. Thanks!

...has been singing since her youth. In high school in Southern California, she sang in a band that covered REO Speedwagon and Led Zeppelin. And she also toured Europe with the group Madrigals, performing music from the Renaissance and the Middle Ages.

While Cindy never fully left music behind, her geography degrees from UCLA and Cal State Northridge drew her to a career in planning. She has been a consulting planner and is currently working in government, seeking to bring her extensive and varied experience to bear in the San Joaquin Valley.

Mark met Cindy in early 2008. It was immediately clear how perfectly their voices blended. Then Mark asked Cindy if she would please learn a few of his songs. And so she did.

They have been performing together as Mark Lemaire and Twilight ever since. They tour New England every summer, and California appearances have included shows in Carmel Valley, Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and many places in between. On their European vacation in the fall of 2011, they busked on the streets of Italy and Croatia. They have just finished their new album "Home Isn't Home"-- based around their unique vocal blend combined with Mark's inimitable guitar style.

Mark and Cindy live in the San Francisco Bay area.