On Writing Cherry Springs

I tend to write very deliberately. I’m an album oriented listener and the same goes for me as a writer. I detail a course of action in my mind or on paper and I write songs that take me to my plotted destination. The destination could be a lyrical theme, a specific genre, or just a vibe. I also tend to flip flop a lot in regard to what sound I want. After each album I decide that I want to write with a different instrument… specifically I go between wanting to write a piano driven album and wanting to write a guitar oriented album. Artificial Individual, my second album, was written solely on piano (mostly an out of tune piano in the back of the radio station I worked at). Therefore, my next album HAD to be a guitar-based album. Artificial Individual had a lyrical theme that carried through each song. Therefore, my next album HAD to be a collection of individual stories. The idea for Cherry Springs was born. Fun story; the title track was one of the first songs I wrote for the album. It was heavily inspired by what I had done with the last track on Artificial Individual, The Last Time We Saw The Sun. The goal for that song was to tell a story and I hadn’t really done that before. In the past, most of my songs had been about real-life events (twisted around to limit the autobiographical nature of the content) or just emotions I was feeling. In short, most of my songs in the past were stories that I didn’t need to make up. The Last Time We Saw The Sun was a turning point for me. It was the first time I successfully wrote a song that wasn’t about me or my thoughts or emotions. Following that success, I decided that I was going to write an entire album of story-songs, starting with Cherry Springs. I really wanted Cherry Springs to be a pop album. I wanted it to be accessible. I wanted the lyrics to be better, more relatable, and a bit more fun. I wanted the arrangements to be cleaner and more deliberate. I wanted polish and shine. I think overall, I succeeded in my efforts, thanks to a lot of help from Dan Davis, Jeremy Little, Rand Bellavia, and Doug White. Give it a listen, I think you’ll enjoy it.