Hiya Alwyn, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge again. Grab a brew and take a seat.
What’s the live music scene like in New York City right now?
I feel like it’s slowly making a comeback after so many musicians and producers have left for LA and Nashville over the past few decades. There’s also so much new music that feels heavily inspired by NYC. Patrick Droney just released an incredible album, Made You Look, that captures this city’s identity in so many beautiful ways. Zach Bryan’s With Heaven On Top also feels very much inspired by the heartbreak and chaos of NYC. I absolutely love both of those records. And, of course, NYC is a must-stop tour destination for so many new artists. It’s always exciting to see who’s playing at both the big and small venues.
What’s currently in your ears and on rotation at the moment?
Brandon Flowers’ Thrasher and Ella Langley’s Dandelion are two of the albums I’ve been listening to the most. Incredible songwriting and impeccable production. I have been so inspired by both of those records. When I need a pick-me-up moment, Karol G’s new record will instantly put me in the best mood. You can tell I am definitely not listening to just one music genre. I love all types of music, and it’s so inspiring to see artists at the top of their game go even further and push their music forward in such a unique, honest, and beautiful way.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
I just released my second EP, Trial, and a new single, a track named “Monster,” which is a song I wrote about my life at 19 years old and how my relationship with my family and friends changed so much back then. The lyrics felt very vulnerable and raw, to the point that I wasn’t even sure I wanted to record the song.
I was in the studio one day with my collaborator Michael Ales, and we had already wrapped up everything we had planned for that day. Michael, with whom I write a lot of music, wanted me to cut “Monster.” I couldn’t really believe that he would relate to the song so much, but he did. And the same thing happened with Michael Carey, who co-produced the EP with me. Those conversations with both of them about what the song meant to them — which had little to nothing to do with what the song meant to me — made me feel like the song actually carried a more universal feeling than I thought.
What was the recording and production process for your new EP like?
I recorded and produced most of the songs in Los Angeles, with some of the instrumentation recorded in Flint, Michigan, with Michael Ales. The exception was the song “Fireflies,” which was recorded at NYC’s Dubway Studios. Then the songs ended up being mixed in New Jersey and mastered in Nashville, so they’ve already made their way throughout this big country. I am so humbled by the opportunity to create music and to share these songs with other people. I have lived with them for a very long time, as I wrote most of these tracks almost three years ago. And finally putting them out is like giving permission to close the chapter on them and move on to something else.
I honestly wasn’t even planning on releasing an EP this year. Some of these songs I wasn’t even thinking I would ever release when I wrote them. But I kept listening to them in this exact order, and things started falling into place. There was more meaning behind it, at least to me, than I saw at first… Some of these new songs completely unlocked my perspective on a lot of things, made me look at life differently in a more universal way, and made me reflect on the entirety of my life, from childhood to adulthood.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
I named my new EP Trial for a number of different reasons, but it is in the song “Monster” that I sing, “I was just a kid who was put on trial.” Life is indeed a trial. And, as I usually say, that is a bit metaphorical… until you realize that it isn’t.
When I was producing these songs, I noticed that there was a common thread in them, almost a duality between “me” or “my suffering” — without wanting to make it sound dramatic — and “life,” or everyone else’s struggles. When we feel that life isn’t going our way, we are, in a way, only looking inward. And the track list, which was simply the sequence in which I kept listening to the songs, felt like an evolution from a stage of looking inward to looking outward and navigating life’s trials.
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