family portrait

I've long wanted to take the time to write and record and album of music.  For years that never really happened.  I would record snippets here and there, but technical shortfalls and other obligations kept it from ever becoming a reality.  Another problem was focus.  Since music is a release for me, I typically sit down and play whatever I feel like, instead of putting together the complimentary and coherent ideas that and album should have.

A couple of things have changed over the last year and a half.  For one, we planned to have a baby and have done much associated with preparing for Lucy's arrival.  This meant it was easier to focus on one theme more often, because it was always on my mind.  Second, my equipment and my proficiency with it has slowly continued to improve, allowing me to take on slightly more ambitious musical projects.

The result is a small five song album (or EP, I guess) called family portrait.  All of the songs but the last one have been posted here before.  The fifth song "for my valentine" was recorded while I was in Arizona for a work trip while Sarah was at home pregnant.  Too shy to sing out in the hotel room, I drove a few miles outside of town and recorded alongside the highway.  You can hear cars passing by every now and again.  To present the song collection, Sarah and I put together album art, as shown below.  In the next week or so I hope to burn disks and print cases to send to family. 

...and the back:

And, of course, the actual music:

family portrait by are.kay.more

The disks sent to family will have the uncompressed and remastered versions of the songs (I've learned a bit more about mastering over the last year :) ).  The ones posted on Soundcloud are mp3's.  Also, the version of Lucy's Lullaby on the disks will have the ukulele solo replaced by a lovely violin solo played by our good friend Treesa Gold.