album note (march 2025)

thank you so much for taking the time to listen to ‘Horizon.’ this album, to me, is less a narrative and more a collection of moments. moments of changing with the universe and the seasons. the interplay of growth, stasis, and longing. the push and pull of groundedness and existentialism. how two people can try their best to love in the pandemonium of it all.

to honor how closely this project feels tied to these moments, here are a few memories that i feel best sum it up:

1. sitting in my dorm building at Vassar College, in a gorgeous room with a Steinway piano, in january 2022. outside it was a sunny winter day and the snow was beginning to melt. i remember sitting at the piano and the song ‘horizon (where the power lines lead)’ emerging. it was a plea to the universe for me to grow, to change, to look to the future. that started the whole process.
2. sitting in a beautiful field of grass, flowers, trees, buzzing bees, and chirping birds in summer 2022, but feeling a deep sense of dissonance with the world around me. channeling that into the song ‘edenic sobriety.’
3. finally, recording the album in the Hudson Valley in october 2024 and being able to revisit, and fully realize, this grounded connection to the earth that inspired the album. i remember the maple tree in the Vassar Ecological Preserve with gold leaves that fell onto my guitar; the waterfall in Minnewaska State Park; and the bright stars above the Ashokan Reservoir at night. my favorite memory is driving through the Shawangunk Mountains and happening upon a beautiful vista of the peaks right as the sun set. i stepped out of my car and looked out at how the sky followed color theory, hues that bled from blue to orange to red. and then driving a little further and coming upon a vast field of tall grass – with the full moon rising above the trees. autumn air blew as power lines guided momentum to the horizon.

i have so many people to thank! my friends, family and communities for loving and inspiring me. my musical collaborators – abbye friedman, ben short, and ben savel, and my dear friend and cover artist mattie vandiver. thanks to matt graff @ the koop recording studio for helping me record piano and keri van camp and the team at vassar ecological preserve for being so gracious with the space. and of course, thank you all for listening <33333