fans-only video from the recording studio

We still have lots more to do but I love this part of the process, meeting so many amazing musicians who help us to create the world of each song.  I just posted a little fans-only peek... if you're not already on the email list, you can sign up here (or like us on Facebook) and get the link to an exclusive video from inside the recording studio.

seriously good vibes

Happy Holidays to all!

inspiration

I haven't been able to get up to NYC as often now that things are so busy in the studio, and Tim has also had a lot of other projects lately, but we've still managed to stop by a few times this fall at the wonderful open mic at Bar 82.  Host Wayne Kral is so the man for keeping this night running.  Below we are playing one of my favorite songs, Leonard Cohen's "Anthem" -- one of the few covers we've done.  I've always loved this song (from the album The Future).  It took LC ten years to write.  I was thinking to say more about why it inspires me but I'll just let it speak for itself.

putting down bones

on the way to the studio

Things have been full steam ahead for the past week or so and the tracks are starting to take shape.  Finding the right part for each instrument can be challenging, then suddenly it's quite magical when we find it.  I'm really happy about how things are going so far.  I don't know how much to tell you about the new music... maybe I should keep things under wraps so as not to spoil the surprise!

Yesterday was an especially awesome day, so we decided to take pics holding instruments that none of us had played.

hey

Today, Ken Pendergast was in again to play some way cool bass on two more songs.  Since it was all rainy and misty, it seemed like a good day to find something for Osmosis Song and it was :)  Now we have the bones... drums and bass... for five songs...

magic bass man

drums day 1

We have been doing lots of preproduction for the rest of the songs and now we're finally back recording, yayyyyyy!

Today was all about the big big drums for three different songs that range from jungle-y to jazzy.  We decided to do these three songs first because even though they have different styles they are probably going to share some instruments in common.

First Jeff did that miking magic that he does, to get us a big awesome sound.

overhead mics talking to each other

pillow that Jeff had to deliver out of the bass drum before we started (not out of that string bass, fortunately)

you can see where it came out... its twin is still in there I think

We had to cover a lot of different stylistic ideas in just one session, but Charlie is such a versatile drummer that he gave us lots of cool stuff to choose from.  We only just got started with the third song so we'll come back to that one next time, as well as cutting drums for 2 more songs.  Then we'll be adding other instruments on top of what we got today.

drum gorgeousness

Indian Summer pics at Washington Crossing

Behind-the-scenes at our photoshoot yesterday in Washington Crossing State Park.  It was gorgeous weather, about 70 degrees.  Which was a good thing since at times I was wading in the Delaware (though not all the way across -- I leave that to George Washington) and wearing things that would have been less fun on a crisp autumn day.  But yesterday was more like Indian Summer, perfect weather for the shoot.  We did most of the "real" photos up in the woods but I didn't take many pics there; I left that up to Mark :)

the beautiful Delaware

Bambi?

short bridge across the river -- we have it a bit easier than G. Washington

Kim and her bag of tricks

happy leaf

managed to keep the lashes on

studio update, and more to come soon

This past summer I started recording a new album at Turtle Studios in Philadelphia.

Yeah that's the first song almost finished... nice colors huh?  It's kinda sweet and crunchy.

This fall we're forging ahead with the rest of the tracks, so things should be moving quite a bit faster from here on out.  I'll be posting again soon to show you a little more about what we're doing in there.  Still too early to say when it will all be done but we're aiming for a spring release... fingers crossed.

Peace Prayer

a little something from Bar 82

In spite of the rain, a number of people made it out to our show at Bar 82 NYC earlier this month and it was a really great night.  Hopefully we'll be playing there again before long.  Here's a little something in the meantime:

stu-stu-studioooooo! and Bar 82 NYC

So next week, we are booked for the very first recording session on the new album!  We'll be cutting basic tracks for the first song and I can't wait to start bringing this project to life!  What is not as exciting is that a lovely summer cold has decided this would be a great time to visit me, even though it's 102 degrees outside today.  I hardly ever get a cold but I haven't been able to sing much for the past couple of days and I'm trying to rest up and drink lots of fluids.  We probably won't end up using the vocals from this session on the final recording anyway, but the musicians need them for reference and to get the energy of the song -- and you never know when you're going to get something good.  So I'd rather be able to sing when the musicians are there!  On my first album Lovefeast we had drums, bass, guitars, percussion etc. all in the studio at the same time for "Silverback" and I had a cold then, too, and we couldn't use those vocals.  I'm really hoping that won't be the case this time but we'll work it out one way or another.

Another reason to rest is that in a couple of weeks, I'm playing a 40-minute set with Tim Daoust at one of our favorite spots, the back room of Bar 82 in the East Village of NYC.  We've been playing the way cool open mic there for a few weeks now and on Wednesday, August 3rd we'll be the featured act starting at 9pm right after the mic.  We've been performing all-acoustic so far but are aiming for a mix of acoustic and electric for this show, with lots of songs from Lovefeast plus a few other surprises.  I've really enjoyed exploring acoustic versions of the songs and I'm looking forward to doing more of that, but it's exciting to be moving into a fuller sound that's more like what's on the album.  Don't know how much time there will be for a sound check but we are ready to go with the flow whatever happens.  If you're in NYC stop on by!  There's no cover charge, and you'll get to see this:

Yeah it's a disco skull.  And if you come early, you might also catch some of the wonderful artists who play the open mic here each Wednesday from 7-9pm or maybe even play something yourself (signup is at 6:30).  We'd love to see you if you can make it out!

new song out now! Spirit of 76 (song for We the People)

It's America's birthday weekend, so what better time to release this new song -- a recorded version of "Spirit of 76 (song for We the People)" that's out today on iTunes, CDBaby and Bandcamp.

This one is a little different from the music I usually write and doesn't really fit with the material for the new album, so I decided to release it as a one-off digital single.  It was originally written to be performed live sometimes in the dance we've been making (We the People) but I thought you guys might like to hear it and I wanted to make a better, recorded version.

It's a simple song expressing hope for the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity to shine through to people everywhere (not just in America).  I hope that you might enjoy it, wherever you are.  And Happy Birthday, America.


Lyrics, music, vocals, cellos, electronics: Lacy James
Cover design: Mereminne Productions
Lacy James photo used by kind permission of Bill Hebert
Liberty Bell photo used by kind permission of Tony the Misfit through Creative Commons

releasing a special one-off single this week!

For the past couple of weeks I've been working hard to get something ready -- just a little something that probably won't be on the upcoming album.  After spending all of yesterday locked up with the lovely cello lady above, I think it's finally done.

More soon! but if you want to be one of the first to hear this one-off single, everyone on my fanlist will be receiving a free copy any day now.  You can join the list in the right-hand column on this page, or here.

backstage pics from Re:Vision

We had a super time performing in the Re:Vision Series this past weekend in NYC.  I had wondered about having so many dancers on a smaller stage, plus myself wandering through them, but our piece worked well in the space after all.  I also really enjoyed the work of our fellow artists.  I'll have video and performance pics soon and will write a bit more then.  

A few more from behind the scenes:

dancers getting ready

Liberty lash

on the backstage "fire escape" - do we look scared?

with the wondrous and amazing Pacho aka AJP

red white and blue on 9th Avenue

song for We the People

The dance that we're making now is getting very exciting.  I think it's going to be called We the People.  The idea for this dance emerged from one of the songs that I am working on for the new album but the dance took its own direction, as dances tend to do.  So as it turns out, I have written another new song for the dance!  We showed the work for the first time last weekend at an informal studio performance in Philadelphia.  It was my first chance to tape the piece so that I could see how the song and choreography are working together.  They seem to fit, at least as one possible version of this dance, so we'll keep the song for our upcoming performances at the Re:Vision Series in New York City next month.  I'm still making some adjustments and I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone coming to Re:Vision... so I'm not going to post too much more about the song yet.  I hope that maybe some of you will be able to come see us!  The dance is really exploding now, and I have such exciting dancers working with me.  I am very grateful to them.  They really inspire me.

jammin' in BK

I am so impatient to get into the recording studio! but we have to wait for scheduling, etc. so for now I've been working up some tunes to get out and do some gigs with my friend Tim Daoust.  We're trying out some different angles with the songs, in both electronic and acoustic configurations, in order to start taking them out around NYC and hopefully beyond.  I wasn't able to tour behind the first album after being swallowed up by dance back then, so it is really exciting to be working on different possibilities for doing those songs live now.

It's wonderful working with Tim because he can go in any direction that we might want to take this, having a background in electronic music as well as rock and classical/new music composition (among other things).  Plus, he has the fabulous Penny, who helps us out a lot; for example checking to make sure that I have set up my gear properly:

 

keeping my equipment case warm:

and letting us know when we are not doing anything particularly impressive:

Re:Vision performances in April

So it looks like we will be performing the new dance in a shared program at The Tank in NYC on April 15th and 16th.  The Re:Vision Series, hosted by Forward Motion Theater, features mixed media and interdisciplinary artists, so we will be expanding the piece into new dimensions and my brain is spinning like mad with ideas!  So far we've been working with the dance in silence, but I'm thinking about creating an electronic score for these performances or incorporating spoken word... or maybe, singing.  And/or possibly, video of some kind.  It's quite a challenge to add such elements right now, since I'm really enjoying the simple rawness of the movement we've been making and have been thinking more in terms of showing the dance outdoors and in simple studio spaces at the beginning.  But this is a great opportunity to try some new ideas for the work and to be part of an interesting show.  Anyway, we'll see what happens!  More details about the show are listed on our website Calendar.

things like this make me so happy

Beautiful artists building bridges with their work. The doumbek player is the totally awesome Joe Tayoun, who played on my "Song of Songs".   Happy Friday!

dancing into the recording studio real soon

Should be in the recording studio early this year! Just working out some last details. Meanwhile I wrote another song, so that's good. This one is definitely a DANCE toon & you know that makes me happy cause I love to dance :)) More soon!