Back In The Studio: Recording A 2021 Album

Last week, I officially began recording a new album!

I’ve been talking for many years about recording an album of my custom love songs, and it’s finally happening! I actually thought I might do this project while Adeila was a newborn, thinking that the quiet and soothing nature of the songs would lend itself well to the lullaby baby years, but Heirloom kept us busy right up until its release back in February.

I never would have thought that, so soon after Heirloom, I’d already be moving on and looking forward to the next thing. But with the pandemic really making it hard to promote that record the way I wanted to, I might as well get back into recording. And the world could use some easy, happy love songs right now. It feels especially strange to be tracking in October, because this was the time last year that I recorded my vocals for Heirloom, and I’m instantly reminded of how cold the house gets when you turn off the noisy furnace to record at night..!

This feels very different from all of my past albums, because this is the first time I have ever not been reliant on grant funding, which means I don’t have a budget that needs to be spent or returned, and I’m not obligated to follow a production schedule outlined months ago (that may or may not be realistic several months later). I’m completely at my own whim, and can proceed at whatever pace I like, or, I can completely axe everything if I so choose.

It’s a pretty liberating feeling, but it’s also a bit disconcerting to have the option of backing out. I’ve never had an escape route available before, so I’ve always been undivided in my focus to bring projects to completion. But bolstering me is the fact that this is something I’ve wanted to do for years, and I’m really excited about the songs I’ve chosen - the act of selecting ten out of the more than 70 songs I’ve written for people around the world was no small feat. Some of the selections are among the very first that wrote back when I began this side-hustle back in 2016, and some are songs written this year.

Slowly making a collection of discarded earrings in the studio, taking them off when I put my headphones on to record.

I’ve already tracked guitars for nine of the ten songs, using my white Squier Jaguar for most. (My heirloom Fender Jaguar has a ground wiring issue that I haven’t been able to get fixed because of the pandemic.) The last few songs really called for an acoustic, so after five or six years of disuse, I finally pulled out my Martin acoustic guitar. I got it back in 2011 from Elderly Instruments in Lansing Michigan, and it’s the first “serious” (read: non-entry-level-model) instrument that I’ve ever owned. I used it to record Little Sway, but then I switched to playing with a band soon after and found my style betted suited to electric. Plus, with the humidity in Windsor shifting very dramatically throughout the seasons, this precious guitar has been safest stored in its case - but unfortunately, “out of sight, out of mind.”

I put on a fresh set of strings and put it to work. I forgot how much I love this guitar. The light feel of it. What it’s like to record an instrument that isn’t tethered by cables. And the way it smells - the dark mahogany is like chocolate, so rich and sweet and earthy. Last night, I captured the most divine harmonics wafting out of the final chord of a song - there are angels in this guitar.

Some of the more upbeat songs on the album will be reminiscent of the vibe on Heirloom, albeit with fewer session musicians since we aren’t having people in our home during the pandemic. We’ll be limited to what we can do in-house, plus a few contributions from players who can record remotely. But I think, interestingly, when I submit it for distribution, the genre of this album will not be categorized as “Soul”. I often draw on my East Coast singer-songwriter roots in writing these songs, because I find those strong swells of emotion very naturally in the earnest, heartfelt sounds of the folk singer-songwriter music that I grew up with. There will also be quite a few stripped-down songs on the album, which I’m excited about - there are very few such recordings in my public catalogue. They’ll be closer to the sound you get when you see me live. And they’ll be reminiscent of the sounds of “Pretty Words”, my viral Spotify hit.

At this point, I have yet to select a release date, but I’m aiming to release the first single on the Friday before Valentine’s Day next year, to commemorate the occasion that inspired my first custom songs.

Recording and engineering at the same time makes for a cozy (if slightly messy) space.

I shared a few posts on Facebook recently from Rich Aucoin, who shared how the pandemic has affected independent artists like himself. He commented on my re-post, saying, “i feel kind of like a lot of the old doors have been temporarily closed and you can see those deeper or further along able to still navigate on the other side but getting there right now seems a little harder for those who haven’t hit a critical mass threshold.” I personally feel like I am coming up against a lot of closed doors lately, and some days, it’s hard to shake dark thoughts about what my work is really worth to people, and feel more and more that artists are being dispassionately left behind as the pandemic wears on. But it’s projects like this that are helping to keep me grounded, and remind me that I can’t concern myself with other people’s perceptions of me, or allow those to have any weight in the way I feel about myself. I just have to keep moving forward, making art, lifting as I grow, and spreading the love.

And enjoying the occasional bottle of wine.