Love With A Broken Heart

Today my song “Love With A Broken Heart” is out in the world and although this was a hard song to write, I’m very proud of what we were able to capture in the studio.

When we showed up at Union Sound Company back in February, Amanda I took one look around at the cozy patterned rugs and asked if we could set ourselves up cross-legged on the floor. Our friend and engineer, Chris Stringer, obliged and creatively arranged a web of guitar and vocal microphone stands around us at comically steep angles. Mics aside, sitting on the ground facing each other harkened back to how we had first started singing together as teenagers in Amanda’s loft room. 

In all our years of recording in studio, Amanda and I hadn’t ever felt comfortable with (a) both playing and singing at the same time, or (b) recording without wearing headphones. However, on this chilly February morning we decided to toss aside the familiar safety net of isolated tracks and dive into something new. 

This was a big leap for me, because I’m not typically, how do I put this, “relaxed” when it comes to “anything”. But something about being in my forties now has found me letting go of the reins more often than not. 

Amanda and I sat down that day intending to record a few rough takes of the new songs; two and a half days later we had finished the whole album. Without intending to, we had recorded ten new songs “live on the floor” in single, complete takes. 

Listening back, I think we were both struck by the dynamics, the looseness, and the sense of urgency. Two voices and two guitars.

One of us joked that this album is the “the opposite of AI”. Whatever that means, I’m for it.  

To put it another way:

This is what we sound like.
This is who we are.
And maybe, after all these years, it’s enough.