The album has been out now, formally, since March 27th, 2021. I am so proud of this baby. The collection of songs, many of which were co-written with Gabriel Beaudoin (my guitarist and musical soulmate) are among the best songs of my career.

The title of this album suggests the pandemic. The thing is, it was named in late 2018 before all the songs were even written. The March in question is actually 2018, when Gabriel and my creative relationship went into a bit of a whirlwind that is best described as a “meltdown.” When we came out of it, we were back on track with the project and an understanding as to how to move forward. It’s funny that two years later, when the album was about to be released, the world entered its own meltdown and we delayed the release again another calendar year. That extra year really gave us time to perfect the music and I’m grateful for that, in hindsight!

The photos both on the front and back were shot by Romain Leveque (of France) in Beijing. For the covery, we wanted to convey a literal meltdown (hence the ice cubes) against the idea of needing an escape from the chaos of what we call reality, which many people enable through the consumption of alcohol. The blurry lettering is part of this spin-out, which often causes us to lose focus. Of course, this isn’t an album celebrating alcoholism (I rarely drink and have always been a “cheap drunk”!) but something about the timelessness of whiskey or a martini, along with the dim light of a bar environment, truly suited what I feel this album is trying to convey, in general: that darkness is part of survival. We must endure it.

The album is also accompanied by three amazing formal music videos which you can view here:

To listen to this new album, you can do many different things:

1. BUY IT – The album is certainly available for purchase in physical form through this website link
2. DOWNLOAD IT – The full album is available through Bandcamp.com (and remember that the first Friday of every month they donate their commission back to the artist — “Bandcamp Fridays”!)
3. STREAM IT – This music is, of course, available on all the platforms for streaming and this single portal will help direct you to your platform of choice: Hear Now

Putting this album together over these past four years has been a long and arduous process, but I couldn’t be happier with the results. The musicianship and the crafting that went into each song is intense, with fine-tuned arrangements that represents thousands of hours of work both in the creation stage with instruments in hand as well as in the painstaking editing stage in front of colourful blobs of digital audio on computer screens. The meticulous eyes and ears of Gabriel Beaudoin are to be particularly credited for this latter precision.

I’m especially excited about the mix and production, which was done (in part) by the amazing Tim Abraham of Secret Door Recording in Toronto Canada. He took these songs from their partially-produced state (by Gabriel Beaudoin and me–Ember Swift) and transformed them into sparkly audio orbs…. (And if you think that’s too flowery or overdone as an explanation, then you haven’t listened yet!!!)

I would love your feedback! Please review the tracks on your platforms or send me private feedback about what you do and don’t like in the album. I learn so much for your willingness to share your opinions. Thank you, in advance!

~e

P.S. Here’s the back cover:

To download the album’s interior graphics, click this link: Mid-March_Meltdown_Lyrics