Caithlin De Marrais - April You Changed Your Mind

Early every morning for months, rain or shine, I walked from my apartment in Brooklyn to an overlook near the Bridge. I watched for stretches of empty sidewalk and hummed to myself. When an idea came to me, I whispered it into my cell phone—a few notes of melody, a snippet of lyric.

I developed the songs in secret. When no one was around, I talked to them like houseplants. For a long time I didn’t play them for anyone, I just patiently watched them grow.

When they threatened to bloom, I called my friends and favorite musicians from the neighborhood. The sessions were completely improvised. No one heard the songs until we hit record. We rarely played anything the same way twice. Instruments were swapped between musicians, or sometimes abandoned. Tempos were agitated or calmed. “The Cottage” was composed as it was being played, and recorded on the spot.

We made the record wherever we happened to be, creating music in a fire-ravaged church in Brooklyn, a rustic cottage in upstate New York, and several Brooklyn apartments including my own. There was no sound isolation, not much in the way of overdubs. We cued one another with eye contact, everyone playing together. I sang the songs live in the room as the musicians were playing them. You can hear the warmth and affection of the sessions in the songs themselves.

Without nostalgia or guile, we played in the magic city with an innocent wonder.
Caithlin De Marrais Brooklyn, Sept. 2008
My Magic City
Recorded at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brooklyn NY
The Cottage, New City NY
; a few Brooklyn apartments
All songs written by Caithlin De Marrais
except The Cottage
(Caithlin De Marrais, Kaia Fischer, Josh Kaufman, Jason Lawrence, Lara Meyerratken)
Play Fair
(Bob Buckridge)
Animals
(Caithlin De Marrais, Josh Kaufman)
Carefully
(Caithlin De Marrais, Kaia Fischer)
April You Changed Your Mind
(Caithlin De Marrais, Kaia Fischer, Lara Meyerratken)
Produced by Kaia Fischer ; Josh Kaufman
Engineered by Kaia Fischer
Mixed by Dave Schiffman
Mastered by Gene Paul
Artwork by Caithlin De Marrais ; Spencer Heyfron
Back cover photo by Spencer Heyfron
Performed by
Lauren Balthrop – acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Pascal Balthrop – backing vocals
Bob Buckridge – electric guitar
Chris Buckridge – electric bass
Caithlin De Marrais – electric bass, lead and backing vocals, percussion, piano, Rhodes piano
Kaia Fischer – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lap steel, percussion,
Bob Hoffnar – pedal steel
Frally Hynes – electric guitar
Josh Kaufman – acoustic guitar, backing vocals, electric bass, piano, Wurlitzer
Jason Lawrence – drums, percussion
Konrad Meissner – drums, percussion
Lara Meyerratken – backing vocals, electric bass, percussion, piano, synthesizers
Annie Nero – electric bass, upright bass
Britta Phillips – electric bass
Andrew Vladeck – percussion
Dean Wareham – electric guitar
Many thanks to Dave Schiffman, Gene Paul,
to all my musician friends who performed,
and to Mo & Sean Hermann.
Love and gratitude to all