What began as a knock on the door ends in a notice of condemnation for The Magician, Star, and all other inhabitants of the cozy, shared cottage. The surest ending, however, was the retort.
The 'Flop House', a literal place, actually referred to as "The McClain House" by its inhabitants, finds its way into several recordings on the album. Referenced in "The Dance", "Mountains of Anastasia", and briefly in "Without the Kiss", it was also the writing place for many of the songs and several of the real-life experiences on the album.
A three-story structure in a residential neighborhood that housed up to 12 constantly-rotating residents (nearly all teenagers or twenty-somethings), the "House on McClain" was the Chelsea Hotel of Julean's hometown. At least until -- due to its prime location for real estate and development -- it was condemned by the City to pave the way for higher rent and more affluent renters, citing it as a 'Flop House', full of impermanent bohemians and mismatched loafers.
The final inhabitants of the McClain House decided to throw a party on the night before leaving. Part cleaning party, and part destruction of the house each of them had grown to call home.
While the music for the song were originally coupled with the lyrics from "The Dance", in part, "Flop House" was never actually written until the recording session in 2007, as Julean felt during recording that "...some of the music from this chapter was missing. The story was there, but I hadn't really ever created the music for it yet. I hate writing for albums, but I felt it needed to be done."
This version of the recording -- a set of recordings made during the same studio session for "Muse Tree", "Alexandria, Falling", and "Disconnect' in 2007 -- was released in "premaster" form as a physical item for European audiences during performances in Europe from 2008 to 2010. A more recent and mastered collection is available on the U.S. release, "Darlene" (2011), available here:
juleanandtherai.bandcamp.com/album/darlene
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Julian and the Rai, Julian and the Ray
from
Here. (European demo version),
released August 1, 2008
Music and lyrics by Julean Rai. Recording, engineering and performances by Julean Rai. Music and lyrical content & recordings copyright 1996, 2007 Julian D. Rai (BMI); Julean Rai (BMI), Julean and the Rai (BMI). All rights reserved.