Twelve Days in June On the Making OF ‘Hiraeth’
Can you talk about any specific themes or motifs that run throughout 'Hiraeth?'
My life has gone through a lot of changes over the last year. Some of it is good, some of it not, but a lot to unpack regardless. ‘Hiraeth’ was written as I experienced all that change and it explores a lot of complex feelings and emotions. Nostalgia, displacement, grief, isolation, nihilism, and mortality to name a few. My producer referred to the album as “one long therapy session,” and he’s probably spot on.
Was there any challenge that you encountered while making this album?
As a relatively unknown indie artist, one of the biggest challenges in making an album is the cost. I’m so proud of this album and it was important to me to get it right, so I went to Ben Hirschfield to produce it. I felt like his body of work would be a perfect fit for what I was trying to accomplish with ‘Hiraeth.’ He was worth every penny.
Can you talk about any standout tracks on the album and what makes them special to you?
It’s tough to pick favorites because they’re all special to me in one way or another, but that’s a lousy answer to your question. So, I will say that songs like “The Sea Is a Wishing Well,” “Polymorphic Light Eruption” and “Blush” all hit differently for me because of how they ended up from where they started. Some songs are already clearly defined from the early stages of writing them, but these three took on a whole new life once I got them in front of the band.
I would say that “The Bittersweet Season” is also very special to me because it’s me being openly honest and vulnerable about dealing with the lingering pain from losing my mom. She loved Christmas, so I wrote her a Christmas song. Granted, a very sad one. I sampled her voice in the song, which makes it incredibly painful for me to listen to, but I was also very happy that I could immortalize her in that way. It actually makes me feel closer to her, somehow. Like she still got to be a part of this album with me even though she's not here anymore.
What has been one of the most significant moments of your musical journey so far?
Having complete strangers on the internet tell me that they enjoy my music. Seriously. What could possibly be better than that? At this stage of my life, my goal as an artist isn’t to get rich or tout vanity metrics on social media. I just want to create music that makes people feel something. So, when they do, it’s quite literally one of the best feelings ever.
Can you walk us through your creative process when writing and composing music?
I don’t schedule time to write. That doesn’t work for me. It makes me feel like I’m on a time limit to produce something, and then I’m too focused on the pressure to be creative. Making music should be fun, otherwise, what's the point? So, there are a couple of methods I use. The first is when a melody pops into my head. I don’t want to lose it, so I grab my phone and hum it into the voice recorder app for safekeeping. That way, I can come back to it later when I’m ready to sit down and focus on it. And yes, it's always cringe to listen to.
The second kind of just happens randomly. I might be playing my guitar, practicing my existing songs, and the next thing I know, I’ve put together a couple of chords that sound interesting to my ear. So, I’ll keep tinkering with it until I find something I think I can work with. Sometimes it’s only a basic progression, like a verse or chorus, and sometimes I’m inspired enough to keep going and flesh out more of a structure.
Once I have something that feels like a complete song, I send the guitar and vocal tracks to my drummer, Adam. Then it continues on through the conveyor belt until everyone has had a chance to add their parts and creative touches. It’s a really fun process for me!