My last album was about loss and grief, which was also what my life was about at the time. It was a long process to come out of that personal chapter. In the last few years I started to come out of hiding. The wounds no longer needed licking. The past no longer took the majority of my attention. As I learned to show up for the life in front of me, I found the capacity to risk falling in love again. There’s no pure happy ending - the world is a mess, the future is uncertain - but I find over and over the truth in Mary Oliver’s words: “Attention is the beginning of devotion.” I’m paying better attention, some days more than others, but working to develop the skills of gratitude and mindfulness. I was lucky and privileged during the covid lockdown to move in with my girlfriend (now wife), and to stay home for the longest stretch I’d had in more than twenty years. I got to notice the little things. After a life of travel and peak experience I began to appreciate more of the beauty of subtlety and sitting still. There is so much here, in the space around me, in the sensations of my body, in the sounds and smells and tastes and thoughts that emerge and drift away. It’s not a novel concept, but it is a novel experience when you’ve spent your life running from one thing to another. This is an album about showing up for what is and letting it be enough.
I’ve been playing a songwriting game for about a decade now, led by Matt The Electrician of Austin TX. Every Friday he sends out a prompt and 15-20 of us have a week to write a song that includes the prompt. Sometimes it’s just a way to stay in shape creatively and participate in a community, but it’s also often an opportunity to see what is lurking just below the surface of my consciousness, waiting to be explored and expressed. I’ll find myself writing songs I didn’t know I needed to write. This album is a collection of 11 of those songs. They all come from a process of discovery and surprise. I wasn’t sure if they’d fit together, but somehow they manage to cover the journey of the last few years, from the trials and silver linings of lockdown to the tensions of our uncertain human future to the unexpected joy of allowing myself to fall in love again.
The album was tracked by my dear friend John Morgan Askew, with whom I’ve collaborated on the Secrets of the New Explorers EP and the RemoteTreeChildren project. We spent 10 days at Bocce Studios in Vancouver WA getting basic tracks and vocals recorded. John recruited Ji Tanzer (Blue Cranes) to play drums and Dave Depper (Death Cab For Cutie) on bass, guitar and keyboards. Ji and Dave created a distinctive baseline that helped define the palette for the record. Cory Gray also came by and played piano on a couple tracks. Dave Depper was a huge force on this record - his creativity and enthusiasm were key to making these songs come alive in the studio.
Over the next many months I recorded more vocals, keys and guitars on the road and at home. In that process I also brought in Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek) for guitar, Dominique Arciero, Natalia Zukerman and Hannah West for vocals, Dan Lutz for upright bass and Garry West for bass guitar.
After I added so many tracks that I felt a little lost, Mikal Blue helped me unstick the record and figure out how to unify all the songs. Matt Coles took care of the final mix.