Our June
Our June is a five-song EP that grew out of a pull to write more directly about what I was feeling, and to sing those songs in my own voice.
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I’d started noticing songs emerge from emotional moments rather than from sitting down to experiment with sounds. I wanted to follow that feeling into a record.
I wrote and sang the songs myself, then worked with Mood Infinite and Kelsey Tang to develop a film for time heals.
The project became a five-song EP and a music video shot in Japan, with my role extending from songwriting and production to the brief, funding and creative feedback for the film.
Finding the songs
Music has always been a way for me to understand myself. Usually the melody or chords arrive before the lyrics, and the meaning of a song reveals itself gradually as I work on it. With Our June, I started noticing ideas come out of moments when I was feeling something strongly, before I’d even opened a session.
city at night is one example of how the songs began. After a walk up to Bernal Heights on a cold evening in San Francisco, I was sitting above the skyline and had the feeling that what I was going through wouldn’t always feel so big. Other songs had been with me for years, and the EP took shape during a summer in Tokyo as I worked out which ones belonged together.
On earlier records, I’d worked with other singers. This time I wanted to sing the songs myself and leave more of the roughness of my voice in the music.
Listening to listeners
I also brought some of my product practice into making the EP. I ran a survey on an initial group of ten to twelve songs to understand which ones resonated most with people, rather than relying only on what I’d become attached to after spending so much time with them.
That feedback helped me narrow the selection to the five songs on Our June. I still had to decide what belonged on the record, but it was useful to hear how the songs landed with people who were coming to them for the first time.
Making the time heals film
I sent Mood Infinite and producer Kelsey Tang the whole EP because I wanted to know which song made them see something. They chose time heals, and we developed the film from there. I wrote the creative brief, worked through the pitch and storyboard with them, funded the production and gave feedback through the edits.
Mood directed and Kelsey produced the film. Their story follows two former lovers through separate lives, setting the countryside of Kamakura against central Tokyo and bringing their memories together at a fireworks festival. My credit is creative producer, and I also traveled to Japan to help on set.
During the fireworks scene, it rained. We were in a public space with mud underfoot and a tarp that kept slipping, and at one point I was holding umbrellas over the actors and a crew member while Kelsey kept herself, Mood and the camera covered. When I watch that scene now, I remember everyone trying to keep the shot alive in the rain. I’m really glad we did.
Popeye Media — the team behind the filmMood Infinite directed time heals; Kelsey Tang produced it with Popeye Media. Gaku Kataoka and Riko starred. Audio: AIR APPARENT, production; Jack Siegel, additional guitar production; Brent Kolatalo, mixing; Jonas W.K., mastering.