Just Fern - Vine Star Rehab (Original Replica Bootleg)
Channel: Cecily Renns
Date: 2023-06-29

Here's something different! This is not something I made. I'm reuploading a bootleg version I made for Vine Star Rehab, an album released in 2020 by @JustFern . All credits for the music goes to them!

Just Fern's final album Vine Star Rehab had a tumultuous production cycle. In my correspondence with Fern, they described listening to the original version of the album as "a near death experience", and possibly possessed by an actual demon. The fallout from that event resulted in Hungry Heart, a half-completed version of the album with no resemblance of the original concept. However, in November of that year, Just Fern graced us with the final version of Vine Star Rehab; but while the concept was in tact, many key tracks (Hi Bottom, Vibe, Better) which completed the story were missing.

Using versions of tracks from both Hungry Heart and Vine Star Rehab for extended length, and adding the piano ballads and cut tracks (released on Jeff's bandcamp on September 2021) back into the tracklist, this bootleg of Vine Star Rehab serves to best replicate that haunted version of the album, with the story of Canela Cabeza finally able to be told in its full glory. Perhaps I have re-created a monster. But I can almost certainly testify that it would have been the best album of 2020, and the SMiLE of this generation.

It's worth mentioning (since you're probably subscribed for my music and not Fern's) that Jeff Burgess, the man behind Just Fern, is the most important musical influence of mine, and tracks like Hi Bottom and Vibe here heavily influenced the sound to my album with Ucklin, "Lily of the Valley", which more than a few people liked. Just listen to "Hero" and how much it matches up with Hi Bottom. It was always weird to me how the chief influences for that album were songs that have never technically seen official release. (A stealth release on Bandcamp isn't exactly official) I've had this bootleg created for more than 3 years now, but I've just forgotten to release it all this time, lol. Hope you like this, it's one of the most important albums of all time to me!

Album Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DlTeNwXwt9LqLj1rLH_DNN9mSO2FJnic/view

00:00 1. DMT
06:59 2. Love Note
09:37 3. Hi Bottom
14:51 4. Bruised and Still Burning
17:59 5. Maybe That's Why
23:03 6. Vine Star Rehab
26:00 7. Earth
28:02 8. Vibe
35:33 9. Digital Girl / Vine Star Rehab Reprise
38:38 10. Quarters
42:58 11. Better
46:58 12. Hungry Heart

Below are the tracklists I worked with:

19/10/25 Tracklist:

Bruised
Pegasus
Clean
Earth
Unicorn
Stars
Hungry Heart
Vibe
Quarters
Better
Digital Girl
Terrified

20/01/08 Tracklist:
Love Note
Bruised
Bully (Maybe That's Why)
Pegasus
Hi, Bottom
Earth
Vibe
Vine Star Rehab
Quarters
Better
Hungry Heart

20/01/12 Tracklist:
Canela (DMT)
Love Note
Bruised
Clean
Pegasus
Vibe
Hi Bottom
Catgirl TF Into Starstuff (Real)
Earth
Quarters
Better
Hungry Heart

20/02/01 Tracklist:
DMT
Love Note
Hi Bottom
Bruised and Still Burning
Vine Star Rehab
Clean
Vibe
Quarters
Better
Hungry Heart

20/12/23 Tracklist:
DMT
Love Note
Hi Bottom
Bruised
Maybe That's Why
Vibe
Vine Star Rehab
Quarters
Better
Hungry Heart

some of my reasoning for my tracklist:

my tracklist is mostly based on the 02/01 tracklist, with minor alterations. i've added Maybe That's Why in between Bruised and Vine Star. (the 01/18 tracklist puts it at after Bruised, too - i wonder why it's gone in the February tracklist?) because i never found "Clean", i've put Earth in place of it, which was considered for the album. i also almost put Stars between that too - another demo - but the recording itself was just way too low in quality compared to every other track, so that's a bonus track. some tracklists (including the one Jeff told me in DMs) puts Vibe before Vine Star, but i think Vibe is better placed near the end as the climax of the story. (earlier tracklists also put it at before Quarters) Digital Girl is not a reprise of Vine Star; it was an earlier version of Vine Star. but i placed it as an interlude track between Vibe and Quarters, and i think it works very well in that context. my hardest decision was where to put Hi Bottom; personally, i like it after Love Note, Bruised and Maybe That's Why; right before Vine Star, at the middle point of the album working as a centerpiece. but chronologically, Hi Bottom makes most sense right after Love Note, and i've decided the story was more important for this bootleg than album flow.

technically, the extended versions of DMT and Maybe That's Why are not canon. the added outros of those songs were only created for the final version of Vine Star Rehab in November. but i thought they were good so i added them in. in the download, i also have included demos to DMT, Love Note and Bruised. feel free to swap out the tracks in the main tracklist with those if you want a more authentic experience.

Fern Explains the Story of Vine Star Rehab: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vvn5BzqZBcTp0uXEKhAz0ssBkhql_RgI/view