Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Album Update! And Other Jazz...

Hello there!

Sorry I've been a bit of a stranger lately. Finishing up your last semester of college is no easy task, and I've been trying my best to balance everything.

So how have I been spending my time?

Well, I've been recording my full-length album piece by piece, and I must admit, I'm really excited based on what we've done so far. I'm hoping to finish all the major tracking by May, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can stay on schedule. Without giving too much away, let me just say that this album is going to be VOCALS GALORE. I recorded some scratch back-up vocals for "Mirror, Mirror" just the other day, and I am so freaking happy with how they turned out. I can already see that this album is going to be so much more me.

Other lovely news: I wrote a new song recently that I'm really fond of. It's called "Lily" and it's about a little girl who wants to become a famous singer (hmm I wonder where I got that from). She eventually grows up to meet a guy who forces her to give it all up. Of course he doesn't do this in a completely obvious way - most manipulation is after all, unconscious. I'm not sure where I got the darker half of my story from, but I figure my own determination to avoid this fate has something to do with it.

Here's a pic from the venue where I debuted "Lily" for the first time! Taken at Vaudeville Park in Brooklyn, 2/28/12

One more important thing you should know: I am currently involved in a rock musical written by a colleague and friend of mine, Kelly Izzo.

What?!

Yes, it's true. I'm in a musical. Who woulda thunk?

The musical is called "Alice Unraveled" and it's the story of a girl who gets sexually assaulted and slips into Wonderland to cope with her trauma. My character is Alice's mother/The Red Queen, and I must admit I'm having a blast. The show is going up this Friday, and I think it's really a great chance for me to get up from behind the piano and get more comfortable with working the stage. Click here to check out the event if you'd be interested in seeing me portray an evil queen. Truth be told, I'm having way too much fun with that...

So why am I killing myself trying to balance all these incredibly time-consuming things on top of finishing college?

As a singer-songwriter, the most important thing is to step outside of your comfort zone and live life. Otherwise, I'd have nothing to write about! So that's exactly what I'm doing. Living.

I hope you guys are doing a little of that too. It's a hectic world out there.

Wishing you all some inner peace (and fun too!)

-Leila