Another episode in the unearthing of my first EP “ALB”
I started recording “Parachute” in Jacques Delatour’s (one of my favorite New Orleans producers/sound engineer's) spacious-dark New Orleans apartment. He had these huge twenty foot high ceilings and one the biggest computer screen monitors I’d ever seen. His apartment was a perfect space for recording because of all the natural reverb, guitars, keyboards and the fluffy soundproofed walls. We started with a simple set up, a mic in front of the guitar and pressed record. We did vocals separately, added some melodic piano hits, and watched as the song started to come to life.
I’d been singing this song for about a year. I knew it was good enough to put on the record because every time I played it live in the French quarter, I could always see that the opening guitar chords got peoples attention and tugged especially at the heart strings of tipsy tourists stumbling into the bar from bourbon street.
The song was inspired by a girl I was in love with from Los Angeles whom I always thought that somehow, someway it was going to work out with… (Ohhh to be 24) After about a year of unrequited love and lots of back and forth of Facebook messenger (Shoutout to 2012), I finally decided to break things off and separate the dream from the reality of the situation. I felt like a wet dog coming out of a watery muddy love puddle and shaking off all the emotional dirt from my body to finally feeling clean and clear headed for the first time. Oh, I was very sad too. I’m a sensitive delicate flower for those of you who don’t know me.
So when I wrote “Parachute”, I imagined myself as falling into love, while falling from the sky. I liked this idea of pulling a parachute chord and floating down to earth, collecting my thoughts, straightening my heart out so that when I landed, I’d come down level headed. To me this song always holds a sweet place in remembering the aches and pains of my younger days as well as the songwriting stages of my 20’s. Sometimes I wish I had pushed myself harder lyrically for this one but at the end of the day it’s just a really pretty song for the ears.
My shining golden memory from the process of writing and recording this song was when we recorded the strings parts at Fudge Studios on Terpsichore street (Now Trombone Shorty’s personal studio). Through Jacques, I met brothers Sam and Jack Craft who played strings so beautifully on the track and really brought the song into a different emotional atmosphere. And voila, hope you enjoy the song substack friends!
Great behind-the-scenes story of how this song came about. Brings it that much more to life. Love the drawing too, brotherman