How does this 'Night's Bright Colors' reflect your musical journey and growth as an artist?
‘Night’s Bright Colors’ as a recording project has been my lifelong musical pursuit. I basically started it when I was a kid so it’s easy for me to see how it has evolved and changed over the years as I’ve grown up and (hopefully) gotten better. Melody has always been my primary focus, though in the early days I didn’t always know how to get there. This newest collection represents a lot of ideas, some going back years, and we spent a lot of time on refining it.
How did you work with the producer or engineers to bring your vision for this 'Night's Bright Colors' to life?
Before this newest album, I was always an avid home recorder since the Paleozoic Tascam 4 track days. For years, I was content just to be able to overdub and create these little low-fi pop songs in my bedroom, but for this project, I worked with a really talented producer/musician, Kevin Boggs (Fashion Bath). He really deserves the lion’s share for how this album sounds, which is so much better than what I’d been doing on my own. It’s like Night’s Bright Technicolor.
What is your personal favorite song from 'Night's Bright Colors' and why?
I would probably say the last song, “Blush” because it is so different from what I originally thought it was going to be. The demo was just this little acoustic thing that was going to be simple and short and it ended up turning into something I never expected complete with an ambient outro that references the preceding 10 songs. For me, it kind of distills the delight and excitement of collaboration.
Was there a pivotal moment in your life when you decided to follow your path as a musician?
I originally went to school to study engineering. I wasn’t happy at school and really homesick and insecure about what I wanted to do. I remember being really stressed about a test I had to take the next day that I had absolutely no interest in and instead of studying, I was practicing guitar and feverishly trying to work on a (terrible) song. It took several years after that to find any sort of musical path, but that moment seemed to encapsulate my struggle.
Where do you find inspiration for your songs or musical ideas?
I wish I could say, definitively. I know that for the ones that end up being my favorites it’s hard to pinpoint where the ball started rolling, or maybe I don’t know how to pay attention. I do believe if there is an element of surprise or mystery it definitely tends to keep me motivated and focused, so I’m always taking notes.