Almost in a fit of laughter, Rachael begins to explain how John had heard of the studio. "We clicked on the website and there was this beautiful panoramic view of the sea. We recorded the basics using its old vintage analogue equipment and were ready to get back to civilisation. We ended up going to LA to record the cello because the player couldn't come to us. We then went to New York and then New Jersey because there were other musicians that we wanted to work with. Finally we mixed it in John's studio in eastern Maryland. It's pretty organic. We didn't set out to go to one place, hold up and do the one thing, since it was my first thing. We went where we felt we needed to go and we were creative about it."

Were all the songs written before you recorded the album or did you find yourself writing during the recording session?

"The last song I played tonight, was called 'Sunday Afternoon'. I wrote that just as I finished the album. There's a hidden track on the album, that I wrote on the last day of recording, at literally three in the morning with one mic, sitting on the floor playing the guitar as I sang lyrics. We did it in one take. First records are such learning experiences about what songs you want to present who you want to be, like production, like the whole deal, this one heavily focused on where I want to go onto next."

So you're already thinking of the next album?

"I'm dying to record but I'll probably be touring this one for a while. The set tonight was a combination of the EP, album and new songs."

Interview by Andrew Mclean 2004
Photography © Rachael Yamagata 2005