Songwriting Session #3 Recap – Magen Tracy
Monday, May 10th, 2010The third songwriting session of the residency was with the smokin’ Magen Tracy of St. Helena:
Meow. Right? Know what I’m saying? How was I supposed to concentrate on songwriting with that sort of lovely all up in my grill? It’s not fair, really. She wears that dress ALL the time. Just to be a jerk.
Luckily, I am a complete professional and was able to fold my tongue back into my mouth and get down to the business of songwriting. Magen and I (predictably if you know us) wrote a ballad about heartbreak called “The Last Time.”
A few days later, I sat down at the old laptop for a gchat with Magen about the songwriting process:
Brendan: What did you think of the way the song turned out?
Magen: I’m really happy with it. It’s been stuck in my head for days.
Brendan: I hate to say this because I don’t want to insult any of my other great collaborators, but I think the one we did is my favorite.
Magen: I’m sure you say that to all the girls. But I’ll take it.
Brendan: How was the process of writing for you? Was I a complete gentleman or what?
Magen: A complete gentleman? Always. The process itself was actually really great for me – I don’t tend to write as quickly, or as frequently as you do. It usually takes me a long time to get a song from its original concept to it’s final form. It was great to have the time constraints and to see how you go about getting lyrics on paper so quickly.
Brendan: It’s because I fired the quality control department.
Magen: Right, right. (Taking notes.) Is that about how quickly it’s gone with the rest of your collaborations for the residency?
Brendan: More or less. I think it’s more because of the time constraints. Finding the time to get together with people has been so hard that we know we’ve got to get the job done while we can.
Magen: Right – are we gonna have a chance to run it again?
Brendan: I’ll sing it to you on the phone from my car on the way over.
Magen: Works for me.
Brendan: How was working with me different than collaborating with your St. Helena bandmates? I mean, besides the obvious sexual tension.
Magen: Well, besides the equally obvious answer about it’s different with four dudes than it is with one… in St. Helena we all work together on parts and structure, but the lyrics are usually written by one person.
Brendan: Yeah, I think lyrically we had the advantage of spending the previous 3 weeks on gchat talking about each other’s heartbreak. I think that gave us a certain comfort level with the subject matter.
Magen: That’s true. As you said when we started, there was no way we were about to write a happy song.
Brendan: The chances of that were zero. And even when you wanted to put a little hope in at the end, I was like “Nope. No hope. Love will never end well.”
Magen: Yeah, I just started to type that… but then I realized we do kind of leave it on an up note. In spite of ourselves, I guess. Apparently, we’re hopeless romantics. (Don’t tell anyone.)
Brendan: What can people expect from your solo set?
Magen: My solo stuff is different from what I do with St. Helena. More piano-based. Moody chick stuff. Sad songs about girls (and a few boys.)
Brendan: Hot.
Magen: It’s great for the Armory, actually, there aren’t that many venues in Boston that are ideal for singer-songwriters in that way.
Brendan: Yeah, last week’s was pretty awesome. The room sounds terrific.
Magen: I’m looking forward to it. And to Highland Kitchen after.
Brendan: Yes, all the people can join us and buy us drinks in celebration of our awesomeness.
Magen: Or we can buy people drinks with the tons of money we’ll make off the cover…right?
Brendan: Of course. We’re in this music thing for the cash.
Night #2 of the Songwriter Residency happens this Thursday at 8pm at the Somerville Armory with Magen Tracy and Jason Dunn of The Luxury. $7, all ages.
