Special Request (feat. Elliot Martin)

“Special Request” features John Brown’s Body’s vocalist and longtime friend of the band, Elliot Martin. Like the water flowing on the third panel of the cover art, Martin's lyrics and vocal delivery provide much-needed nourishment and vitality to the barren landscape left by the previous track. Africano reflects on the urgency to record the bassline as soon as it came to his head while in a Philadelphia hotel room on tour in January. "As soon as I got the bassline down into Ableton, all I heard was (John Brown's Body drummer) Tommy Benedetti's unapologetic drumming and Elliot's vocals soaring over top of it all." He was able to get Martin's vocals remotely and enlisted the help of Jeff Franca to mimic Benedetti's militant style for what would be a harmonically simple tune with a lot of attitude.