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New Album: Nicole Andrews

‘New Album’ is where a band or artist answers some questions about their latest release. Up next is Nicole Andrews, who has just released her sophomore album A Stranger.

When/where was the new album recorded?
The album was recorded at Rhombus Studios here in Wellington starting in about February of last year. We took our time with it to really make sure it sounded like we wanted.

Who produced/engineered the album? How did the tracks come together in the studio, or at home?
Thomas Voyce (Rhombus) produced, engineered and mixed the album at Rhombus Studios. I come to him with a completed song and then he works with me during the recording and production process in the studio to really finalise the sound, adding other instruments and such. So, the songs were fully written, but then things like guitar, bass, drums were all added by him in studio while we hashed out what the songs needed and how they could be elevated with these additions. This was quite a lengthy process, but was a nice second creative burst to finalise the sound we would go for.

How did the songwriting happen? Are there any overall themes within the songs/album?
The themes of the songs are definitely love and loss, in all the senses of love and ways you can lose. It is a really dark album in my view, and is like a snapshot of life from a very particular time, since all the songs were written in just three months. The process of writing these songs was slightly different for me, primarily because I was working with a new instrument, the synthesizer, which lent itself to layering sounds, something I had not done before as a pianist until I produced my first album. So I wrote it by piecing together synth lines straight into demos, then layering those up, adding vocals and messing around with the songs quite a lot in the recordings to create shape and my ideas.

Were you going for a different sound/approach on this album?
Yes, I had intended to move in an electronic direction for this album because I’ve always been very much in love with the genre, and always felt slightly limited working solely with the piano. So the idea was to do something completely different to what I would normally do, and see where it takes me. I wasn’t sure what that was going to mean for me until the songs started coming.

Was there any specific gear you used to capture that?
Well, working with the Prophet 6 really opened up the possibilities, but to create the songs I really just used what I had on hand at home, recording demos on my laptop. Nothing fancy… By the time the songs got to the studio though, we used a huge variety of gear to get the sounds we wanted.

Is there a particular single/track that you feel captures the essence of the album?
I think ‘Echo’, which is the last song on the album, captures the full essence of feeling that I expressed across the album. Each song focuses more closely on different feelings and events, or ideas. But ‘Echo’ to me is the most raw song on the album.

Is there a physical copy available? If not which digital platforms is it available on?
I’m not doing CD’s this time to try and save up for doing vinyl later, but until then the album will only be available for download, starting on the 4th of May. The downloads will be available on all of the normal platforms like iTunes, Amazon and such. However, I also have a Bandcamp page and sell them directly off my Website.

Are you working on a video/videos for any of the songs?
I have two videos for the album, both are done and dusted. The first video is for Lovely Thing which was filmed back in May last year by Adam von Penfold, who is a talented artist with film. He approached me back when I was still releasing things for my first album, In the Shallows, and I intended to work with him at the first chance I could. The second music video is for my song Beg for More, and that was filmed down in Diamond Harbour in Christchurch by my friend Jaya Gibson. Jaya has worked with me for years and he even designed my logo and did the graphic design for my album cover for A Stranger. He’s pretty awesome. For both videos I just let them take full creative lead and do what they want.


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