Session with Megan Storie

I first met Megan a couple of years ago when she was in the band Exit Glaciers. She and another band member came by the studio to check it out because they were looking for a facility to record their next album.

I didn't get the gig.

But I did get to meet her and get to know some of their music, and I thought it was great. Megan is a talented songwriter with one of the best pure voices I have ever heard. Somehow she manages to communicate compelling emotion while maintaining great control and articulation over her delivery, the result being a very riveting vocal performance.

A couple of months ago I had her in the studio to do another session for Shake Music TV. The plan was originally to have her full band with her, but due to scheduling conflicts it wound up just being her and her guitarist, Matt Minich. This turned out to be a tasty combination, because the arrangements they did for the session really complemented each others strengths.

Both of them plugged their guitars straight into an amp (once again my Silverface Deluxe for Matt), no effects, no monolithic pedal boards, just a little reverb. I used an SM7B on Megan, and a Blue Baby Bottle on Matt, one because it's a pretty good sounding vocal mic, and another because it looks kind of cool on camera. Matt played a Telecaster that he had just bought, and Megan unpacked this gem of a guitar: a Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessee Rose. It's really beautiful, and sounded sublime.

I knew Megan's voice would stand out, but I was really impressed with her guitar playing as well; she was super solid as she laid down several takes of consistent rhythm while Matt coaxed some beautiful melodies out of his Telecaster in and around her vocal lines. One final touch was the addition of Matt's background vocal, gently supporting Megan, mostly on the choruses. His voice and delivery was perfect for this setting.

I was so impressed and wanting to hear more of their music that I went to see them with band in tow at Backyard on Bell the next week. It was cool to experience the deluxe version with bass and drums, and I dug the tunes, some of which I had heard demos of in preparation for their next album. Right now they are recording and doing it themselves, and I wish them all the success in the world. Stay tuned for their band, Yarrows, to announce the release of this album in progress later this year. In the meantime, catch them live whenever you can.

Here's the first video from the session we did together: