19/10/2022
Today marks the release of 's EP "Late July," which I had the pleasure of producing and mixing. When I first heard Isabel perform, her songwriting immediately reminded me of Joni and Judee, and I secretly hoped we might get to work together one day.
Isabel and I met and recorded this in about two weeks, just before she left LA, and we nearly didn't finish recording due to sickness! My favorite story from the process was trying to get the right parts and arrangement for one of the tunes: it just didn't seem to be working until the last hour of our session, when we added just one simple piano part, and suddenly the whole arrangement made sense!
We tracked her guitar and voice live, with no click, for an organic feel, and then overdubbed bass, piano, lap steel, and electric guitar. I used Melodyne to create a tempo map that followed the natural fluctuations of Isabel's playing, which I used for editing overdubs to a loose, rubato grid—a workflow that took some time but was well worth it!
Thank you for bringing the record across the finish line. And thank you Isabel for entrusting me with your music. Congrats on the release, my friend!