The Making of the EP Across the Water - Part 1

/.../ a door opened,

and the keys are thrown away /.../

So, a couple of months ago I released my very first EP Across the Water on the Internet. Very very soon it will be possible to order them as CD's or you can come to the next gig and get them personally ! There are four tracks on the CD. For those who are interested, here's my attempt to make you a bit more acquainted with them. I'll start here.

LOVING YOU

https://triinu.bandcamp.com/track/loving-you

Before I wrote this song in the summer of 2015, I had been in a bit of a songwriting drought. For different reasons my five-piece jazz/blues/rock band lay dormant and I was eager for new inspiration. 

For some time I had been flirting with the idea of getting an electric guitar, but had absolutely no money for it. One day, D told me someone had left a Squier at his place a long time ago and never came back for it - might as well I could use it! I couldn't believe my luck! 

I started listening a lot to PJ Harvey's Dry album, fell in love, started experimenting with different tunings, creating more and more repetitive guitar riffs instead of using chord progressions and in general became more comfortable with the idea of less is more. As a result of all this, the band slowly dissolved and soon I found myself again just with my voice and guitar.

Loving You was one of the first in the series of down-tuned, Moon-lit, sexual songs. I remember clearly the first time I played it out to my dear friend and then roommate in our living-room. It felt more empowering, exciting and honest than anything I had yet written. I was inspired again.

The song has actually been to the studio twice. The first time was still in a trio setting with guitar, harmonica and upright bass. It was a live recording and I don't think we did more than three takes. We had good fun, but pretty quickly it became obvious that the song (and myself) needed some more time to ripen.

Three years later and I'm in the studio in Aubervilliers with Juliette JS. We had already been working on the Across the Water EP for about a year and Loving You was the last one to be recorded. It went a lot quicker than the rest of the songs cause we had gotten to know each other and the way we work pretty well. So we plugged my Sally to the Sändare Overdrive and Boost pedal and that into a nice Fender Hot Road and started to rock out! We decided to add violin to this track and let it weave its way into the song as the sneaky lover in question. Juliette improvised some backing vocals to add air, a bit softness and interaction. And last but not least, my vocals.

     

Mixing, of course, was a whole other beast to tame. J spent literally days in the studio working. I went from time to time to listen and make suggestions from my part. We played especially Cass McCombs' Wit's End album and PJ Harvey's Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea for inspiration and ideas. 



Today, it's already been three months since Loving You is out! We're both really happy with the result and excited for how it's going to spread out in the world with every listener! So, let's go and give it another spin for its birthday and I'll catch you soon !

Triinu 

A link to buy (4€) and listen with full lyrics here: https://triinu.bandcamp.com/