A Spanish Chapter
This is part four in a series of posts all January long telling stories from behind the scenes of my new album TAPEO, which you can listen to here.
It's been quite a thrilling first week for my new album Tapeo! Since the virtual concert celebration last Sunday, I've been enjoying mailing out CDs and watching the online streaming numbers roll in. I continue to be amazed by the reach music streaming can provide, especially for a new artist like myself. Thanks to some lucky playlist placement, tracks from Tapeo have been played thousands of times on Apple Music, and a track featured on the New Classical release playlist on Spotify has topped 21 000 listens in just one week! That Tapeo has been resonating with so many people has been extremely gratifying.
As much as I love that streaming has allowed thousands of new people to listen to my playing, the one thing I regret is that it tends to bury the stories behind an album, reducing it to single tracks and their tiny pixelated artwork.
There's a reason it's takes months to create an album! A lot goes into everything besides the music, and this part of the production is often the most fun. Unfortunately, it ends up being reserved to those who pick up a physical copy (and honestly, who even has a CD player at home anymore?). So to amend this, I thought I’d share a couple of the non-musical stories behind Tapeo.
If you can believe it, one of my personal favourite parts of making the album was actually writing the liner notes. I only had about 150 words per track, and getting to dive into the world of each piece and its composer to extract the very essence of its story was both challenging and rewarding. If you're interested, you can download the booklet here and read about some of the fascinating stories behind the pieces on the album. I like to think it can only enhance the listening experience!
The photoshoot for the album was also a whole journey in and of itself. With the option of going to Spain off the table (thanks COVID...), I was set on finding somewhere suitably Spanish-looking here at home. Luckily, after much finger-crossing as emails flew back and forth on what restrictions would allow, I was able to secure my dream location: the gorgeous Gaudi-inspired Bar Raval in Toronto. Together with photographer Bo Huang, this was definitely one of the more memorable shoots I've ever done. Now choosing which photo to use for the cover, that was a whole other story…
Although Tapeo's journey out into the world has just begun, to me it still feels like the end of a chapter. Having crossed the finish line of this project, it's interesting to reflect on all the possible paths that it could've taken. I spend a lot of time worrying about whether the story I'm telling is the right one, people that know me would probably say I spend TOO much time dwelling on it. I'll admit it would probably do me good to create more and worry less, but I just love when every element of a creation feels like it fits perfectly in place with the story it’s trying to tell. Right now, I'm happy that Tapeo is finally out in the world and out of my control.
I'm reminded of sitting at a bar in Montreal on a hot summer evening, and telling the former violist of the Ébène quartet, Mathieu Herzog, how the quartet's recording of French string quartets had hugely contributed to my love of French music. This led to my dream of moving to Paris to study, which in turn was how I ended up meeting and getting to know Mathieu in the first place. I vividly remember Mathieu sitting back in his chair, looking towards the ceiling, and saying how you can just never know how what you create will affect people and the world. Only very rarely do the ripples you send out find their way back to you, like they had that evening.
As I wait and see what the world will make of Tapeo, I'm looking forward to discovering the next story that I'll spend just a bit too much time obsessing over. But I'll always have fond memories of this particular Spanish chapter.
Thank you so much to everyone who has been following along the story of Tapeo this month! It's felt great to be able to share the stories of this CD, especially since my usual outlet of talking to people during concerts has been quite absent. You can stream Tapeo here, and I'd love if you wrote in to let me know what you think! Physical copies are also for sale on my website.
I'm also excited to announce that Phil and I will be broadcasting a performance Tapeo live in concert from the beautiful Salle Bourgie here in Montreal on March 21! Mark your calendars and get more info here.