The last few months have been a blur.

Since we talked I’ve been pretty much booked solid recording string arrangements. It’s been a dream come true. When I was first starting out, I remember thinking that I couldn’t wait until I was busy enough that it was stressful. Well, we’re here now and I’m learning how to navigate it.

I’m beginning to do the things that one does in a growing business. I’m working with a designer to build a new website. I’m in the planning phase with an ad team to help people who are making songs find my work. I’m finding ways to make better videos, and with less of my time and energy. It’s exciting, and it’s exhausting.

But still, the most satisfying thing in the world to me is writing and recording. If anything that’s just gotten more true in the last few months. I feel something shifting in my work, and it feels good. The gap between my taste and the product I’m creating keeps shrinking, and as a creative, that’s the whole game.

So here’s a few things I’ve worked on recently that I wanted to highlight.

Fire (memories never die) by Yuki Shundo

One of my closest friends is a mixing engineer in LA. His partner Yuki is a fantastic singer, and they roped me into recording strings on this pop song a few months back. I had way too much fun as you’ll probably be able to tell. I appreciate the space they opened up for me on this track.

Fun Disco Project

We had so much fun working on Fire, that we pulled in a few other producers to work on another track. Our stated goal was to push each other outside our comfort zone, and make the best song we could. So that’s how I found myself executive producing a disco track, and recording an entirely different style of strings than I’ve ever attempted. Here’s a short clip of where that stands. The strings are obviously turned way up because of course I would do that.

Indie Folk with Lucas Fournier

I’ve been working with Lucas for nearly two years now. In that time I’ve watched him grow and push himself more than just about anyone I’ve had the opportunity to work with. He is an absolute inspiration to me, and I think he’s genuinely going places. He just released two songs that I recorded on; cello and violin on “all i know” and just the cello on “b-side” (Lucas is a great violinist himself). They’re both worth a listen. He did a fantastic job.

Run Down by Steve Dennis

This is one of those songs that on first listen I thought, "what does this even need from me?" It was so much fun to add some depth with a string section, and play around with a solo part. Steve is a fantastic musician, and I hope to be hearing more music from him soon.

My Current Inspiration

I drove down to Arcata California last month to meet a friend/collaborator from the Internet. Dominic Romano and I have been working together since we made Red Moon Night and it was amazing finally meeting in person.

We spent a day in the studio together tracking strings for a song of his and vocals for the song I shared a demo of in my last email. But two things about that weekend stand out to me. Driving over a mountain pass in heavy snow, and listening to the Lizzy McAlpine’s album “five seconds flat” over and over the entire drive.

Ceilings in particular is one of those rare songs that just feels absolutely perfect to me. The writing is beautiful, it has some of the best strings I’ve ever heard, the production is exactly what it needs to be, and the story has the most incredible twist. It’s worth a listen. Even if you’ve heard it before, put it on and focus on the strings. It’s unreal.

So that’s it for the moment, but I’d love to hear how you’ve been. We haven’t talked in too long, so as always feel free to hit reply and say hello.

I hope you’re well.

Talk to you soon,

Harley