Behind The Song

“SATURN”

Streaming Now Here

This is the story behind my song “Saturn”. To dig into this we need to time-travel back to when I writing songs for my Rivers & Roads EP. I believe this would have been between 2021 and 2022.

At this point in time, we were all in the middle of the Covid pandemic. Yes, that thing. Much of the world was shut down and remote-working was fast becoming the “norm”. We didn’t really have to see or talk to people to do daily shopping or work. I was performing regular livestreams for the public and trying to maintain a feeling of connectivity amongst music fans and friends. I know it was only a few years ago, but it really was a strange time.

Musically, I knew I was seeking something different and I had not yet landed on the concept of making the more acoustic EP that would become Rivers & Roads. I was writing, experiencing some worldly anxiety and a little claustrophobia from being inside my house for an extended period of time. Same walls, same carpet, same breakfast. I think I just needed to get out and about. So I wrote that into a song. The strains of confinement on yourself and relationships but still looking for the beauty in it all.

At the core, I’ve always been a traveler and being a touring musician just feels like a natural extension of that part of me. Seeing different places and experiencing new things is very normal for me. Taking that into consideration, I suppose it makes sense that I wrote a song that got me out of the house and into the universe… literally. “Been to Saturn and back…” being the opening line of the song.

I wrote a lot of music at that time. Some of those songs went on to appear on Rivers & Roads and “Saturn” ended up in a folder to be explored later. I did love what I had written, but timing is golden and it did not belong on a folk-infused record.

Life continued to “life”. I toured, released music and when 2024 came around, I was writing and looking at songs for an orchestral record concept (“FOREST”). I played my demo version of “Saturn” to Howard, my Producer. I think he knew instinctually what form this song would need to take. Like a mad scientist of sorts, he tinkered with it for quite a while. At this stage it was some piano, chimes, guitar, vocals and bgv’s. I was leaning into a more Nick Drake somber feel that still has a world-music edge to it. This is where Howard comes in for the win. He just has a way of following his gut instinct on certain songs. Howard created a cool drum part and it just set things into motion for the song. We then had our friend Tim Lauer create the incredible string arrangement that just elevated the song to another level. I just love how it turned out and I hope you love it too.