Chris Buzby was kind enough to give some insight into the meaning behind the song “Lampblack” which is my favorite track:

“Brett’s on piano in his Living Room at the beginning singing while he’s playing into his iPhone. Hence the low quality, but the trippy vibe. The background is actual recordings from the actual first tapes of a recorded voice – pre Edison – being recorded onto material called Lampblack.”

Indeed – after reading this I did some research and found the actual recording by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville he was referring to and which was used in the very beginning of the track:

1860-Scott-Torquato-Tassos-Aminta.mp3

As of mid-May 2009, this phonautogram of the opening lines of Torquato Tasso’s pastoral drama Aminta is the earliest audible record of recognizable human speech. This pre-dates Edison’s invention of the Phonograph by 20 years!

This is one of the many reasons I love echolyn – their music includes such wonderful bits like this.