Summercamp

My fourth visit & why I keep going back

I wrote this sometime last June and edited it last week. It’s been almost exactly a year since we started working on the new songs for my EP—all of them come out tonight. I’m so proud of them and what they turned out to be and I can’t wait for you to listen :)

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I want to paint you a picture of what recording has looked like the last few weeks.

After making whichever caffeinated beverage sounds better that morning, I leave my boyfriend’s apartment in Hancock Park at 12pm (15 minutes earlier if I need to get gas on the way). Like every morning has been for the last month or so, it’s foggy, but by the time I get to Jonny’s at 1 it’s warm enough to take off whatever top layer I’m wearing that day.

Jonny’s studio is in Long Beach. It’s called Jazzcats; it’s where we recorded “Stripes”, “Frank”, all of Old News, and 2 out of the 5 songs on Goose (Summer 2019, January 2020, Summer 2021, and Summer 2022, respectively). Since recording Goose there 2 summers ago, three big things have changed. One, Jonny’s building a pizza oven (by hand) in the backyard. I don’t know why this is as exciting to me as it is, but it is genuinely so impressive and I can’t believe how much progress he’s already made since we first started on this batch of songs in March.

Two, the beloved studio chicken Chickpea passed away earlier this year. Since the first day I recorded at Jazzcats, she was the highlight of every session. You'd never know when she’d plop down next to you on the couch, or when she’d jump on the console and give it her best shot at engineering. I never thought I’d say I miss a chicken dearly, but I do.

Chickpea, Summer 2019

Chickpea and Andrew, Summer 2022

And three, the most exciting change by far is the addition of Jonny’s one and a half year old daughter.

I can’t count the number of “Summer Camp at Jazzcats” jokes I’ve made since the first summer we returned to record more songs, but if you’ve been to Jonny’s place you’d understand. On a warm day, you can hear his daughter playing in her sandbox or splashing around on her Fisher-Price water table just within view from the studio’s doorway (on special occasions, she pulls up to the studio door in her Barbie jeep only to reverse out of view with more steez than you and I could ever dream of). One of Jonny’s many cats will be rolling around on the concrete, meowing at anyone who’ll give her a scratch (three more will be waiting inside to greet you by the back door when you go inside to use the bathroom). Our most frequented food spots, Olive’s Gourmet Grocer and Dean’s Pizza, never seem to get old; everything tastes better outside and in the sun.

The cast of characters who pop in to play/take photos/assist is ever changing and growing. It’s a lucky assortment of dear friends and mentors I’ve known since high school, new collaborators who bring their own influences and expertise, and musicians I’ve admired from afar and finally get to work with for the first time. Andy Seltzer joined for a day this time around; Natalie Minguez came back to visit and take photos; we got Rachel and Brett Kramer in for an early draft of “Prank Call”, and Brett separately on another day to lay down drums for “Girlfriend” and “Sweet”; Cameron Thistle and Eli Torgersen joined to play a few different things on “Prank Call” and “Break The Band Up”; George Madrid stopped by to play pedal steel on “Prank Call” and “Bb”. It’s not lost on me how lucky I am to work with all of these people so closely and in such a special place, no less.

Whenever someone’s asked me about the writing/recording for these songs, I don’t know what to say. The truth is, the writing process was easy because songs practically write themselves when you’re falling in love. The release process (while I’m independent) is self-explanatory: make TikToks, share pre-save link, post about shows, post BTS, plan merch, and repeat. The hardest part for me has always been the middle. The decision making, knowing what each song needs in order to cross the finish line, and knowing when they’re already there (‘yes it’s okay that none of them are over four minutes’, and ‘no they don’t need any more guitar’). My goal for all of them has been to keep things simple; trim the fat, less is more, so on and so forth. It’s been fulfilling to watch that come true in real time.

Once Andrew gets to the studio, we all debrief our weekends, do a quick round of show and tell of the snacks/drinks we brought, and talk through the game plan for the day. We break for late lunch or early dinner around 3 or 4, and finally wrap up at 9. Then we back out of the driveway, and do it all again tomorrow.