Life Inside a Bell, my new album with sax player Jon Natchez (of The War on Drugs, Beirut, others), is finally out today and streaming on all services.
This album started out as something else. It wasn’t an album at all. It was really just an excuse to hang out, turn on my drum machines, jam with someone who I admired greatly and was quickly becoming a good friend, and mourn the passing of my best friend, my dog Ezra.
Working through that grief was a major part of these recordings. The chemistry I felt with Jon was another; as we didn’t really talk much before setting up and jamming. We seemed to have a pretty instant musical connection that I was so excited to discover. This was pre-covid days, and I think I took being in a small room with another musician for granted back then.
Recording this album was some of my favorite music-making times of my whole life. It’s the first time in a long while that I recorded a ripping guitar solo. It’s the first time in a long while that I spent a good deal of care on the mixing (and the mastering, and the cover art, and the CD manufacturing…)
I hope some of you reading this will take the time to listen to this album front to back, without any distractions, perhaps driving down an empty road somewhere. Or sitting at home, with nothing but candles on. I structured it like a journey, and even though there are only four tracks, I think it goes a lot of places.
Thanks to everyone listening in this community; it means a lot.
Cheers all!
