“Sing” Cover
It has finally arrived! After much waiting, on December 21, 2013, we were excited to release the CD “Sing.” How can you get your hands on one? For now, simply contact Emily or myself, but the CD will be making its way to iTunes soon.
Making the CD
Creating “Sing” started over a year ago, with Emily and Neil’s first song, “Love Swirls Around.” Then, in June 2013, speed-writing the other songs, creating demos, and finding funding absorbed all of our time as we discovered how difficult it was to write high-quality and imaginative music. Throughout this process, we had to prevent ourselves from slipping into the trap of writing lack-luster, formulaic songs. I had no idea how tempting that would be, especially with the narrow time constraints. On 11:59pm on June 30, 2013, I sent the Demo CD and lead sheets to our producer. Check out the blog post from this stage of creation here.
About a week later, on July 10th, Emily, Neil, and I put on an impromptu concert of the songs destined for the CD. We invited a dozen-or-so friends and family to a “farewell” concert before Emily and I headed to California. The concert was a chance to test out track order (an order that barely changed from the one found on the CD!) and to see audience responses to the songs. Until that point, only a handful of people had heard any of the songs, and the critiques of songwriting, lyrics, and performance helped us to make changes and perfect the music before heading to the studio. In the following few weeks, we trimmed and finessed, eventually replacing two of the original 12 tracks with “Where I Belong” and “Thankful Hearts.”
Neil Chaban, Emily Szal, Alex Marthaler
The creation of this CD brought us to Orange, CA to work with producer Daniel Nahmod. While in the studio, some of the songs ended up very far from where they started. Lyrics became more focused, structure was tightened, and I recorded several of the tracks on piano. Surprisingly, “Love Swirls Around” became a stripped-down piano ballad between Emily and myself, the only track on the album that was recorded ‘live.’ It was our chance to show how musically connected we are while performing, anticipating the other’s timing and pacing without having eye-contact, a skill that was developed over years of performing and rehearsing together. And while a few background vocals were added later, the majority of the CD version of “Love Swirls Around” is just Emily and myself, simply making music together.
Upcoming Concert
In just a few weeks, Emily, Neil, and I will be presenting a CD Release Concert to thank everyone who made this CD possible. We’ll be performing acoustic versions of every song on the CD, as well as sharing stories and memories from the process. It will be at the Unitarian Congregation of West Chester on January 19, 2014, and CDs (and songbooks!) will be available to purchase after the concert. We would love to see you there! Check out the banner below. 
