What It Was

A Tune 4 June

Morning all!

JF Robitaille has a new single out! It’s called What It Was and you can listen to it right here:

Proud to say I helped produce this track. And have to say I think I might be a good producer! I’m not talking about mic positions and crossfades — my technical skills plateau proudly at Garageband. I enjoy working with engineers and co-producers and people who know what they’re doing. But my ears are surprisingly rabbity. If you want someone to edit the timing of your tambourine, or comp your vocal takes, I’m your gal. And I zoom out pretty good too — the sound, the arrangement, what’s missing, what’s overkill, what we can do about it. I think, without really realising it, I’ve been wearing a producers hat (with holes for the rabbit ears?) since my 2nd solo album. Increasingly trusting my instincts with every release. But I’ve never worked on someone else’s music before.

Ok so full disclosure JF Robitaille is the least “someone else” person I could possibly work with. As many of you know he is the other half of my duo project as well as the father of my child! We’ve worked together on many songs in many studios. But this felt different. This was his song. His lyrics, his chords, his melodies, his guitar parts. It’s a JF song, not a JF & Lail song. So yes I spent hours working on it — and you can even hear me singing BVs — but I have enough distance to love it like a fan. I can’t sit and listen to my own songs, but I could listen to this one on repeat.

Our secret weapon was Jake Nicoll, who I’ve mentioned here before. We’ve worked with him on various tracks and he’s everything I’m not. A brilliant audiophile, who can play the computer as well as he plays the drums. If you allow me a baking analogy: JF wrote the recipe, I kneaded the dough, and Jake was the oven. When you find good collaborators, don’t let them go!

And if you want to hire me to produce your next hit single, I’ll consider it.

Lail x

(If you don’t like Spotify click here for other listening options!)