Ellery Stimulus

Fan Love Song Number Four:

Thanks everyone, we’re so grateful!! 

The third in our weekly series of Love Songs to Fans:

Lyrics and more at YouTube…  Share these if you dig them!  And next week it might be you… 

Self explanatory.

We drove in a steady rain this morning from Nyack to Kingston NY, where we were meeting with Malcolm Burn, who will be producing the album we’re recording this summer.
It’s curious to drive into a town for the first time, knowing it will be home for a month or so later on.  So we were wide-eyed, trying to catch what all the town might hold for us.

We drove up to the studio, just up the hill from the river, where we greeted Malcolm and got the quick tour.  His studio is a warm and inviting space… And since by now you all know we’re suckers for vibe, it’s worth pointing out that there was plenty of it.  The gear & instrument selection was as great as we expected, but I was justly reeled in by the old Steinway upright in the control room.  I love uprights: that wash of sound and all its warmth and lack-of-polish.
(But I should clarify; I’m not one to play any piano, even a beautiful Steinway upright, just because it’s there.  I’m happy to look and imagine that it would be nice on the occasions when I felt like playing it.  It’s only fair for me to tell you, since this characteristic of mine makes Justin crazy.  He plays them in my place.  Which can be… interesting.  But sometimes it’s absolutely lovely.  One never knows with that guy.)

I did play a couple verses of a new tune on the piano, and it sang under the voice in that way you always hope, gentle and warm.

But blah blah blah, gear & instruments, the nicest part about the visit was the chance to talk about music-making and songs.  Malcolm has a love for songs and songwriting, which is what drew us to him in the first place.  He loves (and listens for) the arc of a song’s story, the nuances of how the voice is telling it, how to use a song and its recording to effectively communicate that original live, stripped down idea.  It was affirming and delicious to talk these sorts of things out, get an idea for how the recording process will go for us, etc.  Left us both so glad to have made this decision.

Malcolm sent us off with a lunch recommendation for Lucy’s Taco, downtown, an eccentric little place with amazing food.  (Our only complaint was that it disappeared too soon.)

We wandered around Kingston for a bit afterwards, cataloguing sites for future reference– So good to visit before we land back here in June.