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Lauren Calve has been undergoing a metamorphosis in her life, a massive shift. You can hear it seeping through every song, oozing out of every lyric, and feel the shedding of her skin with every note on her first full-length album Shift. The subtle and understated yearning in her voice, the intonation in her haunting vocals and delivery, Calve is longing for something more. Through the ten-track collection of songs, she invites the listener to come along on her journey of self-discovery and change, demonstrating a musical masterclass in the art of emotional storytelling.
Shift was recorded in Nashville at 3Sirens Music Group with producer, engineer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Dex Green (Margo Price, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Allison Russell). He brought heavy hitters into the studio: drummer Fred Eltringham (ACM Drummer of the Year, Drumeo Country Drummer of the Year, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson), guitarist Audley Freed (Sheryl Crow, The Black Crowes), bassist Robert Kearns (Sheryl Crow, Lynyrd Skynyrd), drummer Marlon Patton (Larkin Poe, Lera Lynn), bassist Jared Reynolds (Ben Folds), and Joe Costa on the board (Ben Folds). “Nashville’s home to some of the best musicians in the world,” says Calve. “But I felt like I got to work with the best of the best. It wasn’t just their technical ability, they approached every song with true artistry and infectious enthusiasm.”
During this process Calve learned that she liked putting herself in uncomfortable situations.
From embracing a different sound to recording in Nashville for the first time with “musical Jedis” as Calve calls them to trusting the unconventional fourteen month writing and recording process, she was thriving on pushing herself outside of her comfort zone. In turn, Shift was the catalyst for major paradigm shifts in her life. After finishing the album, she ended an engagement and six-year relationship, she stopped drinking after years of failed attempts, and the writing process forced her to examine the ways she had limited herself. “Ultimately, I made this album, but it remade me,” says Calve.
The sound reflects the environment in which the songs were written, in quarantine, mainly, and therefore in periods of silence and self-reflection. The result is a collection of songs that include “Shift” with its dramatic imagery of a literal tectonic plate shift and asteroids colliding in space that illustrates her state of mind when it builds into an expression of what it feels like to her in the middle of an emotional shift. “Everything At The Same Time” is the North Star of the album. The lyrics were written based on alchemical opposites - she was really into medieval alchemical theories at the time. When combined, these pairs of opposites create magic. “Subtle Alchemy” most represents her musical shift. “I love the ethereal, dynamic production and arrangement, both of which are in perfect step with the lyrics and theme of the song. This song explores the alchemy, or magic, in our everyday observations and interactions; it’s a theme that feels emblematic of my songwriting,” says Calve.