Life in The Booth

This past Sunday, we recorded three very powerful pieces of music for our upcoming c.d. The song "Pele" is dedicated to the Indigenous people of Hawaii and their fierce volcano goddess Pele. She represents the transformative power of anger, a theme relevant to all colonized and oppressed people finding voice and fighting back against injustice. "Somebody Calling" tells the tale of the suppression of women's spirituality by patriarchal religious forces. The song focuses on the Judeo-Christian creation story that casts Eve as the

villain, responsible for the suffering of all humanity, and the witch-burnings of the middle ages. "Sweet Enemy" explores our relationship with conflict, both with others and within our own psyche. This song dives into shadow projection, the process by which we turn others into enemies because they remind us of parts of ourselves that we've disowned.

Each of these songs weaves together three harmonizing vocal parts and the voice of the violin. This fourth voice takes on a distinctly different personality in each piece. In "Pele," Lana transforms her violin into fire and lava, at times quivering, then flowing, with explosive bursts at just the right moment. With "Somebody Calling," the violin becomes the screams of agony and the mourning and weeping of the millions of victims of patriarchal religious slaughter. For "Sweet Enemy," Lana accents and harmonizes with various vocal parts throughout, adding exactly what is needed in each musical moment.

For each piece, Lana is isolated in a booth so that the guitars and vocals don't bleed onto her violin track, and vice versa. We thought it might be fun to visit Lana in her iso booth and learn about her experiences there.

With all of the heavy material we were processing and feeling as we recorded these songs, it was important to find moments of humor as well. While it is a lot of work, many aspects of recording are a lot of fun too. Alison and Kathleen had a blast recording the drumming for "Pele" in their own iso booth and Dionne enjoyed filming various aspects of the experience. We are looking forward to going back next week to do some mixing as we make our way ever closer to a finished product. We'll keep you posted.