Album #13 Update

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My new album, originally slotted for release in March, has now been delayed and hopefully will be released this fall. The delay is not just related to the pandemic, but sometimes even pandemics have silver linings.

Our original mix engineer here in China was unable to complete the job. That was the first delay, which led us to the great Tim Abraham of Soleil Sound and The Hive in Toronto, Canada. Tim now has his own studio called Secret Door Recording Studios and I’m really happy to have connected with him for this project.

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In fact, as coincidence would have it, it turns out this is a re-connection rather than a connection. Years ago, Tim used to play with an artist with whom I often shared the stage. Her name is Miranda Stone and she and I were good friends. Tim remembered me from those days and, after he mentioned it, I also pulled it out of my memory files.

Just like the universe always does, the next week Tim ran into Miranda at the grocery store. They hadn’t seen each other in a few years (since Miranda no longer performs live), so they had a bit of a reunion in the toilet paper aisle (I’m expounding here—it was during the pre-lockdown “stock up” days!) Now, I’ve indirectly reconnected with Miranda too!

The world is so small.

That was all it took. I already knew he did great work musically and the serendipity just popped its head in to reinforce my existing hunch that he was the right guy for the job. The deal was done.

I’m so happy to report that he’s working on the mix as I type this. The album is more than underway. I can’t wait to hear the final results of what will, by the summer, be a conclusion of two years of hard work.

Even the timing of this pandemic, which has allowed us to be even more focused on detail than we could have before when balancing a busy performance schedule, aligns in such a way that makes me truly appreciate the way everything has turned out.

Silver linings.

The other person I must identify here is Gabriel Beaudoin whose work in the arrangement and editing stage of the album was incredibly devoted and meticulous. I’m so grateful for his involvement in this project—above and beyond what he offers with his wizardry on guitar. Together, we spent the fall and winter finalizing the recording of extra parts like missing keys sections (thanks Ray “Orijinal” – see pic above) and backing vocals (several special guests sang into the RODE for that). All in all, it’s been quite an adventure.

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I must add in François Nadeau to this shout-out. He is the talented man who took the footage and directed the videos of our live duo performances launched this fall. I’ve included links to those three videos below. François is currently working on editing the video footage for our upcoming official MV for the album’s first single. (I can’t wait to see what he does with it!)

Put that all together and we have four Canadians–two from Québec (Gabriel and François) and two from Ontario. Not bad! Fist pump for the maple syrup crew!

Stay-tuned!

~es

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