Postcards From The Studio...
And now to share some more of our progress in the studio ...
On the drums, introducing Dillon Vado ...
As we’ve been working hard in the studio over the past many weeks, spending a day or two at a time there recording, listening, rearranging, composing, re-recording, fleshing out arrangements, the songs end up revealing themselves in ways we’ve always imagined, and in other ways that have been illuminating and surprising. When we first started thinking about this album we knew that drums would be a larger part of the sound than in our previous albums. Not because we just wanted to have drums for a bigger sound, but because these particular songs were originally written with drums in mind.
And though we perform mostly with acoustic instruments, as many of you know well, our songs jump around genres pretty regularly, and we certainly aren’t straight ahead folk music, by any means. We’ve always been proud of the amount of sound that we can create with just the two of us, but being in the studio affords us the opportunity to orchestrate these songs in ways we’ve had in our heads from the beginning, to fill them out in ways that illuminate the songwriting, melodies, harmonies and instrumentation even more. Frankly, to give them their due.
The single biggest element so far that has allowed us this freedom to explore our own songs is the incredibly tasteful, musical, unique, and lush drumming by our new friend and collaborator, Dillon Vado.
As we listen back and build on the tracks he laid down we are in constant amazement at the treasure he’s left us. Not only is it abundantly clear how closely he was listening to everything we were doing as a duo, responding to it all and highlighting those nuances beautifully, but he also brought new elements of phrasing and rhythms that give us even more to play with as we build these songs further. It’s a true collaboration and is really exciting! Whether he’s playing with sticks and driving the beat on songs that call for that kind of approach, or playing beautifully subtle and heartbreaking parts on brushes, he is helping us capture the dynamics and wide spectrum of these songs. At the beginning of this project we’d planned on a handful of songs having drums on them, but as soon as we heard him play on his first day in the studio with us, that list quickly grew. So, the rhythmic foundation for this album is a strong and beautiful one, and we’re having a blast framing the rest of this house out!
(Stay tuned for more updates from the studio)