The new six song EP from Nate Leavitt and the Elevation “Someone Send a Signal” is out today!
Some time back in the Spring of 2015 I started making plans to record new music. A lot of pieces still weren’t in place. Big pieces like songs (I think 2-3 songs may have been in the set?) and a band to play them! Before “The Elevation” the Nate Leavitt “Band” had some wonderful incarnations. My vision for the next group of songs however needed an identity which could only be shaped by a consistent lineup. One that would be able to record like a band in a short amount of time. As opposed to the way I recorded my last album like a singer/songwriter, tracking with various musicians, over a longer period.
Fast forward to July of that same year at the Outlaw Roadshow in Nashville. Both my solo band and Parlour Bells were asked to play. In need of a rhythm section for my own set, I enlisted PB bassist Brendan Boogie and drummer Paul Myers. Joining Dan Nicklin, Magen Tracy and myself for what would become the band a.k.a. The Elevation. With some cohesiveness developed and a little Tennessee Summer sweat we set out to record a month later. Also along for the ride in studio were cellist Rachel Barringer and organist Phil Aiken.
In August we broke ground for the new songs at Q Division Studios with producer Dan Nicklin and engineer Pat DiCenso. The first two songs we tracked were Relieve Me and When I Was With You pretty much all in one day. We mixed those two songs a couple of weeks later at Q. We followed that session up with another on the first weekend of November. Over the course of two days we tracked No Goodbyes No Replies, Take Me Back, I Can Breathe Again and Someone Send a Signal. On the third day of that long weekend we started mixing. The final session came the following weekend which was used to mix the two remaining songs. When all was said and done we finished six songs in six days! Thanks to everyone involved, the project turned out exactly how I wanted. It was one of the fastest I’ve ever been a part of and the most memorable. The only part that remained was the mastering.
One of my favorite records of 2015 was Jason Isbell’s “Something More Than Free.” So I reached out to the very person who did Jason’s, Pete Lyman of Infrasonic Sound. Pete and I spoke on the phone (a rarity I came to find in my mastering search) about what I wanted from the session. We found a common love for albums that breathed and sounded natural. Ones that kept the song in the foreground and musical. Between our conversation and the fact that similar artists like Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, and many more trusted him with their tunes, it was an easy decision. A few weeks later I sent the files to him. What I got in return was…..
NATE LEAVITT 