Musique à la campagne

Fields and farmhouses. The sky is blue enough to make us believe that it might still be summer. Rémy and I have been working on the mixing of Circlesong for the past three days. Nothing but mixing and completing the vocals. Only one song left to be done, Ta thay Em still needing the cellos to take shape. Otherwise, we are seeing the end of it. Rémy has been great, showing an astonishing ability to keep focused for long hours. We were working fifteen hours every day, our ears completely mashed by the end of the day. I was so happy when I finally managed to win over Healing and Second breath. It did take me more than one session to do them justice. All the recording sessions I’ve had with Michel proved unusable, as well as that one I did in that expensive studio. On n'est jamais mieux servi que pas soi même!!!

In one hour I will be back in Paris, and will make a point in taking a well deserved afternoon nap before tonight’s dinner. Now the train is shaking too much, I ‘m starting to get travel sickness.

Being the perfectionist I am, it is no surprise that I found many flaws in my singing. I also realized that I wrote most of those songs at a time in my life when I was just discovering my voice with Julia. I didn’t feel that confident about myself, and adopted a breathy and airy singing style that actually worked as a shield to myself, and yet the melodic lines I would write were rather tricky to sing. Singing other people’s music is always easier, and I always feel naked when I sing my own.

All the old habits I got from that time remained as I was recording with Rémy. It was hard to get away form the old vocal habbits I grew accustomed to, especially on that cursed Healing song! That’s what happens when you get music from your dreams.