IN 2020, WE BUILT A CATHEDRAL
Out of the 2020 Covid cocoon, emerged a Cathedral. Of course, not an actual cathedral, but a structure of romantic ideas and a love story set to music—one that I could sing out with all my heart. A story where all the elements and relics of a stony, gothic cathedral turned into plushy window seats and gardens that were home to flowers and butterflies. A cathedral coming to life…where forgotten love was resurrected and new sounds were heard, new viewpoints seen.
Foundations were dug in late spring. I had written 5 songs for an EP that tell this story, and so I started my M.O. of collaborating (I am a firm believer that great art happens in the context of friends having fun). I did some jam sessions with my friend Jesse Gonzalez, a brilliant Latin-Jazz composer and guitarist here in the Detroit area. His encouragement and contagious enthusiasm really kickstarted this project for me. One thing I’ve learned about working with Jesse is that you must be ready at all times – because he can’t contain his excitement (which I adore)…if he loves one of your songs, without a moment’s notice, you’ll be playing that song live on Facetime to one of his producer friends!
Framing continued through the summer. I went for a few days to Akron, OH to begin tracking some ideas with producer John Burke of Vibe Studios at his very hipster, very historical soap-making-factory-recording studio (one of the coolest I’ve ever seen). His creativity and “vibe” really helped the songs begin to take shape. Once finished with the sessions, I made a side trip to some of the nearby waterfalls and trails. (Did you know how gorgeous Ohio nature is? Wow)
In the early fall, I had a week of Pre-production sessions from my home all the way to Mont-de-Marsan, France via Zoom with my friend and French producer Clément Ducasse—who I have worked with on all my projects so far because I absolutely LOVE his work. It was an interesting experience, though, not doing this in person. A week of starting at 3 o’clock in the morning (for me…9am for him) so it was the first time I’ve had jet lag without ever leaving home. I would record bits of vocals on my iphone in a closet and then send them to him and he would convert them to mp3s and put them into the ProTools sessions. I was amazed at how much was accomplished from the comfort of my pajamas, albeit the process was a tad cumbersome. Even now, with the songs recorded and mastered, some of those closet background vocals made it into the final version! In the melodic words of Kip… “I love technology…always and forever”.
Walls, Floors, a Roof…late fall I flew down to Miami, Florida to record the EP with Bob St. John, Grammy and Billboard award winning producer best known for producing albums for Extreme, Duran Duran, and Collective Soul. In addition to the overall AMAZINGNESS that comes with working with Bob, I was honored to have the talents of Alex Garcia, who did the guitars for “Cathedral”, Iker Gastaminza (also a Grammy-winning producer himself) who added keys and arrangements to “No Stained Glass Windows”, Jesse Gonzalez who did guitars and ukulele on “Tambourine Schedule”, and Teddell Lewis who played organ on “Tambourine Schedule”. All of the engineering, mixing, mastering was done by Bob St. John/PDQ Productions. Leaving Miami, I was thrilled to go home with what had been accomplished and the quality of it (although, I always hate to leave the land of palm trees).
Every great cathedral must of course have a great artist for the final touches. For the artwork of the EP, I commissioned the same artist I’ve used on all my music projects – Michaela Von Seydlitz. Not only do I love her vibrancy, colors, and the style of her art, but she honors the integrity and message of the music. She has always required my pre-production demos to listen to before she even begins to paint, because she believes in the art becoming an extension and reinforcement of the expression of the music. She even plays the music while she is painting the cover art for it.
Before the EP will be released in the late summer of 2021, two of the songs will be released as singles. “Sound From Heaven” will release on April 10, 2021, with “No Stained Glass Windows” following in June. More announcements about videos and other fun things with my music to come soon! As always, all the music will be available on almost all major music platforms – Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Amazon Music, Soundcloud, and more.
I pray that you all truly feel loved and valued as you listen to the music! Also, my goal with future blog posts and vlogs is to build you up so you know how amazing you are and how much God loves you! If you want to connect with me and join the journey, click here: https://heidirickard.com/jointhejourney