Track 02

Prelude North: The Other Side of Winter

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Winter view from my Columbia, Maryland home.

Its Place in the Story

While “Prelude South” projects her point of view, “Prelude North” captures mine.

In the fall of 2021, the Mid-Atlantic was still in the throes of the pandemic. People were still fearful of gathering indoors, and many public indoor spaces were limited, if not altogether closed. The world had turned on a dime. My carefully curated communities dispersed.

Winter view from my Columbia, Maryland home.

Newly single and staring down the prospect of a winter of isolation, I decided to take advantage of my newfound freedom to work remotely and go somewhere warm for January and February — somewhere people could still gather outdoors.

Based on a walking tour I saw on YouTube, I chose the Coconut Grove area of Miami, Florida. Other than a beautiful place, I had no idea what to expect.

I began writing this song before heading south, as a farewell to the Mid-Atlantic and to the formerly rich life that seemed to have deserted me. Not sure how to start over or where I fit, I recognized that I had two choices: I could either quit or get used to it. That’s where I was at the time.

Little did I know what was to come.

we had arrived · we were safe

The exhilaration of “Boyfriend” had not yet faded, but the uncertainty had. We had arrived. We were safe.

I also borrowed a little from Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”: “Had we but world enough and time.” Indeed, for a moment, it seemed like we had all the world and time one could ask for.

A few words.

This song planted the seeds for the entire album.

When I first arrived in Miami, I was introduced by a mutual friend to David Cabrera, a fellow mindfulness meditation teacher who also happens to be a brilliant musician and producer. When I sheepishly shared that I wrote songs too, he insisted I send him some. One of them was “The Other Side of Winter.” You can hear a stripped-down version of the song — much as I would have initially shared it with David — in the Vault below.

A week later, David sent back his arrangement of the track. It was beyond anything I would have imagined myself. I was blown away.

To add my voice in my pre-recording days, I played David’s backing track through a speaker and sang along while recording the song on my phone — a very crude foreshadowing of the detailed work to come.

About a year later, I reached out to David to see if he could send me the individual tracks that made up the song so I could do a proper mix for the album. He went beyond that and sent me a more fully built-out version. I imported it into Logic Pro, did some engineering, added my vocal, and that was how the track existed for about a year, up until the album was first slated for release. You can also hear that version of the track in the Vault below.

During “the final push” period of January to April 2026, I revisited the track and added additional piano, bass, synthesizer, and electric and acoustic guitars, creating the version that now appears on the album.

After decades of wandering in the musical wilderness, hearing David’s fully realized version of one of my simple acoustic songs changed something. It showed me that these simple songs I’d been squirreling away over the years could be so much more. And if I wanted more, I’d have to learn how to make them myself.

Stopping in South Carolina on the way.

The Vault

This simple performance captures the song much in the way I would have initially shared it with David. I’m in awe of the sonic scape he crafted around it.

Earlier Album Version

This is the version of “Prelude North: The Other Side of Winter” that would have appeared on the album had I released it as originally planned. During “the final push” I added piano, synthesizer, bass, acoustic and electric guitar.

Recorded for my Facebook friends in early May 2022, just before I returned north. Watching it now, I’m reminded of a line from Forgetting Sarah Marshall: “I see a lot of pain behind those eyes.”

Earlier Album Version

This is the version of “Prelude North: The Other Side of Winter” that would have appeared on the album had I released it as originally planned. During “the final push” I added piano, synthesizer, bass, acoustic and electric guitar.

A view of the project in Logic Pro. Initially, I asked Olya to record two tracks — a lead vocal and a harmony vocal. She outdid herself and sent me at least 6 tracks of various harmonies and vocal doubles. For a while I just stared at the screen trying to figure out how to solve this sonic jigsaw puzzle. You can see a bit of that here.

The Vault

Demos · Alternate Takes · Behind the Curtain

Early demos for this one were so different you might not recognize them.

Early Demo

Original demo (before David)

The solo-guitar version that started the whole thing.

The original David Cabrera version before I added base, additional keyboards and guitars.

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