John Petrucci is a jack-of-all-trades for prog behemoth Dream Theater, taking on the role of guitarist, writer, and producer. One of the most celebrated guitarists alive, he says he still practices and
believes in the "use it or lose it" mantra.
The beloved shredder reveals how his band Dream Theater stays the course: by practicing always and playing from the heart. He also tells us why his 13th Music Man signature model guitar is his most cutting-edge collaboration to date.
John Petrucci is a man who wears many hats and assumes many different guises. He's a writer, producer, teacher, and sometimes an engineer. Above all else, though, Petrucci is a guitar player, and unsurprisingly, this is the role that he's most personally comfortable in assuming. Despite being universally acknowledged as one of the best who's ever laid a hand on a fretboard, Petrucci refuses to remain content in his own abilities. āI still sit there with the metronome," he declares with pride. āI still practice, I still warm-up and do all the stuff that's required."
Petrucci brings this progressive spirit and drive to all his projects, including his latest, the self-titled 12th album from Dream Theater. The record adheres tightly to the group's prog/metal influences without a trace of stagnation one might expect from a group this deep into its career. Much of this is due to Petrucci's drive and meticulous nature in his triple-role of producer, composer, and guitarist. We recently spoke with Petrucci about the new record, his latest gear explorations, and what's next for Dream Theater.
Tell us about the writing process for Dream Theater. How much time did you spend composing the tunes, and how did you work on the songs?
The first step happens throughout the year leading up to the actual recording of the album. It's just sort of collecting ideas, little riffs, melodies, and chord progressions. I compile all that stuff on my laptop and phone, just so I can come in with some ideas to use as springboards. Then the next step is discussing what sort of album we want to make. Two months before we get into the studio, we all get on the phone and email each other to talk about it, so everyone coming in is on the same page.
This time around was very similar to a lot of our past albums going into the studio. We set up all our gear in a kind of rehearsal setting, but in a recording studio with everything mic'd and ready to go. Then we start to work on these ideas and hammer them out. Sometimes we use some of those seeds that were collected; sometimes we just start from scratch. That goes on for a few months until all the songs exist in instrumental form awaiting lyrics, and then I'll sit down and get that process going. It's very interactiveāthere are many different stages, but the great thing is that everybody is involved and invested in it.
How do you conceptualize and craft a song as large in scope as āIllumination Theory," which runs well over 20 minutes and contains such a vast array of time, tempo, and mood shifts?
It's done a little bit at a time for sure [laughs]. It is a big project and it is a big process and the first step is in knowing the kind of song that we're setting out to write. Then we have ideas kind of mapped out, whether they be from things we've been jamming on from the past couple of weeks or from previous soundchecks or some of those seeds I talked about and we'll discuss, āOh, that would make a great ending piece." There was this great theme that I'd pictured in the beginning and we'll map it outāliterally draw it out, like storyboard it on paper for everybody. Once we have that kind of storyboard and that structure, that's when we start writing.
How do you approach your solos? Do you map them out as well or are they more spontaneous?
To me, guitar solos are always those moments that are make or break. They can be an opportunity to further the song musicallyāfurther the story you're trying to tellāand that's the way I try to approach it. I think about my role in that moment: Where is the song going? If the solo happens kind of later in the song and it's leading toward the out-chorus, I know that my job is to lift the song at that point, make it exciting and carry it to the end. If it happens like in the case of a song like āThe Looking Glass," where it's sort of in the middle and it's stretched out, then I know it's going to be more of a free, improv thing that's going to make the song feel a little freer in general.
Sometimes I have solos that are right at the end like the very last thing on āIllumination Theory" where I know my job is to carry the torch and play the mighty solo standing on top of the mountain [laughs]. That's always the first thing I doāthink about what's going on musicallyāthen I just start going for it and improvise a lot over those progressions. Sometimes while that's happening I'll change things we've written, like in the case of āSurrender to Reason." The solo seems really kind of reckless and there were some chords going by that [keyboardist] Jordan [Rudess] did and I decided, āLet's take those chords out and not put any restrictions on the harmony, so I can do something a little more raw."
How do you balance your role as a guitarist with that of a producer while in the studio?
I love doing it. I'm really fortunate and very thankful that the guys trust me in that position and give me that flexibility and responsibility to be the producer. It can be really difficult to be a band member and to produce your own band, but it's worked out incredibly well because I am the guitar player in the band, and I know the guys incredibly well, which is something I use to my advantage as far as how I approach each person. Everybody is different in terms of temperament and work method, so I'm able to get the best out of everybody in that situation.
I think the key for meāand I wrote about it in the song āThe Bigger Picture" on the albumāis being able to step back to see the forest through the trees. To see what it is we're trying to accomplish in a larger sense. This way everything you do works toward that goal. You do have to separate yourself out, you have to step back, you have to get out of the microcosm of playing guitar and being a band member, and pull that into the bigger picture.
In addition to a 17" fretboard radius and chrome finish, the most outstanding feature of the John Petrucci Music Man JP13 is a preamp. āIt lets the guitar be more alive and open sounding," Petrucci says. āAlso it allows for a boost that you can tap to add 20 dB of gain right from the volume control, so you don't need an overdrive or a clean boost pedal."
Photo by Larry DiMarzio
How do you mic and mix your guitars, and how much time do you dedicate to crafting your tones on record?
That's actually a really big process and is also one of the most fun times I have in the studio. We spend a ton of time with it. I've done it so many different ways, but this time the approach was to get a guitar sound from day one that pretty much was a finished soundāit's the sound you hear when you hear the album today. I really left it up to [engineer] Richard Chycki to do what needed to be done in order to get there. I basically had my Mesa/Boogie amps all set up in an iso room in the studio and Richard set up a couple of different micsāa [Shure SM] 57 and [Neumann U] 47. Then he went through whatever process it had to go through after that. I didn't really concern myself with how it was happening. What was important was the sound coming out of the studio monitors, and we would spend days on that.
We also used a Radial JDX to re-amp, so every time I recorded a part, we'd have a DI [direct input] track as well. Depending on the song, we'd re-amp the part and experiment by setting the amp EQ differently to get it to really match up to a particular song. You hear a lot of different types of guitar tones on the album, and they were all tailored to each song.
John Petrucci's Gear
Guitars
Music Man JP13 (6- and 7-string models)
Music Man JP BFR (baritone)
Amps
Mesa/Boogie Mark V
Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+
Mesa/Boogie Triaxis
Mesa/Boogie Royal Atlantic
Effects
Analog Man King of Tone
Analog Man Juicer
Carl Martin Compressor/Limiter
TC Electronic John Petrucci Signature Dreamscape
Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter
MXR EVH 90
Were you listening to any music while writing and recording Dream Theater, and how do your influences continue to define what you do?
I purposely tried to not listen to anything. When you listen to stuff while you're in the studio or before you go ināespecially if it's not something you discovered on your own, if it's something that somebody went, āOh, you have to hear this"āit can be dangerous. All of a sudden it seems like you need to pull this thing into your style.
My original influences go back to being a teenager in those formative days. Bands like Metallica and [Iron] Maiden got me into the whole metal scene, and I was also a big Rush and Yes fan. That fusion of metal, rock, and progressive music molded my style, and subsequently Dream Theater's sound, because we were all into the same thing. Those core influences determined our style from the beginning, and I think it's important for us to stay true to this and continue developing from it, and not lose sight of the band's original vision.
How do you balance trying to push the music forward conceptually and technically with the desire to stay true to your roots?
It's very easy to remain grounded if you just play what comes from your heart. You work off of the inspiration you receive from each other when you're playing together. This band has a ton of musical chemistry. We write together and we inspire each other to push ourselves in that spirit. That's automatically reflected in our metal-progressive style. You can't lose sight of that inspiration when it feels really natural to you. If you're doing something that doesn't feel natural, usually it's not going to come across convincingly.
This being DT's 12th studio album, why did now seem like the right time to release a self-titled record?
I think it's because it made a strong statement this many albums into our career. We wanted to make a bold, strong, confident album that really projected our musical attitude at this point in time and pushing forward. We felt that the best way to illustrate what the album is about was to self-title it. To not pick a title that would distract from it at all or lead to any preconceptions. Keep it strong and keep it a little bit of a mystery.
How much time do you spend perfecting and adding to your technique as a guitar player?
A lotāit's really important. First of all, it's something I love to do and I'm addicted to doing. I really have to practice, it's such a use-it-or-lose-it thing. I have routines, especially while I'm in the studio and I'm ready to push the envelope and record something that takes the music further or challenge myself as a player.
Speed kills and so does John Petrucci in the solo on "Constant Motion." In this performance, Petrucci lets fly with a truly staggering display of agility and dexterityādive bomb to hell and back included.
As Dream Theater gears up for another epic world tour, Petrucci says he hopes to have a solo album out by 2014, his first in eight years.
As a longtime Mesa/Boogie devotee, what Boogie amps did you use in the studio, and what, if any, other amps did you throw into the mix?
The studio was all Boogies, and for the most part it was the Mark V. We did a ton of experimenting using the Radial to re-amp, which was a blast, but a lot of the time we ended up going with the Mark V. I ended up playing a lot of 7-string on this album, and the Mark V really seemed to work with the range of my new Music Man JP13, which sounded very broad and alive through it.
I also set up three of my old Mark II-C+ amps. We'd go back and forth between different ones for solos. They all have different tonal aspects that are just beautiful. I used a Triaxis for clean stuff and for writing, and for the first time I used a Royal Atlantic, which is a Boogie that has a different sound from any of the Mark amps. You can hear it on āThe Looking Glass." The amp has more of a big, grindy, rock sound, not as metal sounding, but really appropriate for that song. I also used it for āAlong for the Ride."
You mentioned using a lot of 7-string guitar on this record. What attracts you to that extra string and how does it alter your approach to playing?
My technical approach pretty much remains the same. To me it's all about the range. When you're composing, it's freeing to play chords or lines that go below that standard E without tuning down. Keyboardists have that in their left hand, 6-string bass players have it too. It also adds some other options as far as the tonal aspect of keys. When you're tuned to standard, you have your basic E, A, and F# keys, which you can mix up when you're using a 7-string. Your centers can revolve around B or C# or D, and then if you tune the guitar down they can revolve around A, so it gives you options you don't have with a 6-string.
Your Signature Series Music Man guitar lineup is currently up to its 13th iteration. How has the JP guitar evolved over the years and how much creative input do you have with each new model?
The lineup has changed with things I discover, whether in the studio or playing live, that help shift the design and construction of the guitar as time goes by. The very first JP guitar was my first experience making a guitar with Music Man, and it came out absolutely amazing. It has that scoop for the right arm, for example. As I learn about tone woods, neck dimensions, fretboard radius, fret size, and body shape, I talk to Music Man and they make adjustments.
All my signature guitarsāthe 6-string, 7-string, and baritoneāare tweaked a bit differently. They're different spices in my spice rack, but they're all me. Having said that, there are also a lot of consistencies in the way we lay out the controls and the bridge. Once we nail something that's just perfect, it stays that way. I have a ton of input and involvement in that process, and I consider myself incredibly fortunate to work with literally the best guitar builders on the planet. I put these ideas forth and the engineers turn it into an actual physical guitar. It's an incredible experience.
What makes the JP13 different from what has come before it?
This guitar continues the evolution. It has a preamp in it, which none of the others haveāthat's the main difference. The preamp enables the guitar to be more alive and open sounding, and it also offers a boost. You can tap the volume control to add 20 dB of gain, so you don't need an overdrive or clean boost pedal. We also went to a 17" fretboard radius, and, of course, the guitar looks different with all the chrome and silver finish on the knobs and everything.
TC Electronic released the John Petrucci Dreamscape Signature TonePrint three-in-one modulation pedal with chorus, flanger, and vibrato. How did that come about?
TC's chorus and flanger effects have been a huge part of my sound forever. I remember discovering TC stuff when I was really young, and I just fell in love with the sound and design. They approached me. They'd never done a signature pedal before and neither had I, so it was a first for both of us.
We started to talk privately about what this might be. I mentioned that their modulation pedal was my favorite pedal of all time and maybe we could take it to the next level by making it quieter and more compact, more roadworthy, and expanding its features. They were 100 percent for it. Once we started exploring the new technology they've developed, we discovered that this pedal could do a lot more than just chorus and flange. We're going to be able to take this as far as we want, especially with the TonePrint technology. In the end, this pedal is probably one of the most versatile modulation pedals you can get, and it ended up being one of my main secret weapons in the studio.
What other pedals do you currently have in your chain?
Only a few. I have a big pedal collection I bring into the studio to experiment with a bit, but live I just use a small drawer of maybe four. In addition to my Dreamscape, I use a Boss PH-3 PhaserāI also use the MXR Van Halen one, which I likeāand usually some sort of overdrive. But I don't really need an overdrive anymore because of the JP13's boost. We've experimented with Mesa/Boogie's new line of pedals, which are really cool for that, and we've used the Analog Man King of Tone. I also really like the sound of compression pedals, and the Carl Martin Compressor/Limiter is great, but the one that I really fell in love with on this album was the Analog Man Juicer.
What is next for you and Dream Theater?
Business as usual, as far as supporting this release. We have a world tour planned and that will start in Europe in January and continue across the globe. I'm also working on a solo album that's been a long time comingāmy last one was in 2005āand I'm hoping to finish that by the end of the year. We're going to continue to stay busy, that's for sure!
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Whitman Audio introduces the Decoherence Drive and Wave Collapse Fuzz, two innovative guitar pedals designed to push the boundaries of sound exploration. With unique features like cascading gain stages and vintage silicon transistor fuzz, these pedals offer musicians a new path to sonic creativity.
Whitman Audio, a new audio effects company, has launched with two cutting-edge guitar pedals, the Decoherence drive and Wave Collapse fuzz. Combining science and art to craft audio effects devices, Whitman Audio aims to transcend the ordinary, believing that magic can occur when the right musician meets the right tool.
Delivering a solution for musicians looking to explore a wide range of sounds, each pedal offers a unique path to finding your own voice. The Decoherence drive injects a universe of unique saturation into your music arsenal while the Wave Collapse fuzz takes you to uncharted sonic territories.
Decoherence features include:
- Cascading stages (Gain A > Gain B) each with a unique sound and saturation character
- Gain A - Medium to high gain stage with a mid focus for clear articulation and punch
- Gain B - Low to Medium gain with a neutral EQ that compliments and expands Gain A
- G/S Toggle - Selects the clipping diodes for Gain B (NOS Germanium or NOS Silicon)
- Tone Knobs (H & L) - Tuned active Baxendall style EQs that boost or cut Highs and Lows
- True bypass switching, accepts standard 9V DC power supplies (does not accept battery)
Introducing: Decoherence Drive -Ā YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.Wave Collapse features include:
- Vintage Silicon transistor fuzz that goes from vintage clean to doom metal mean
- Buffered input and pickup simulation ensure it sounds great anywhere in your chain
- Bias Knob - Allows for a huge range of texture and response in the pedals gain structure
- Range and Mass Toggles - Provide easy access to three diverse bass and gain ranges
- Filter Knob - A simple-to-use tilt EQ enhanced by the Center toggle for two mid responses
- True bypass switching, accepts standard 9V DC power supplies (does not accept battery)
The Decoherence drive and Wave Collapse fuzz pedals carry retail prices of $195.00 each.
For more information, please visit whitmanaudio.com.
Introducing: Wave Collapse Fuzz - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.With authentic stage-class Katana amp sounds, wireless music streaming, and advanced spatial technology, the KATANA:GO is designed to offer a premium sound experience without the need for amps or pedals.
BOSS announces the return of KATANA:GO, an ultra-compact headphone amplifier for daily jams with a guitar or bass. KATANA:GO puts authentic sounds from the stage-class BOSS Katana amp series at the instrumentās output jack, paired with wireless music streaming, sound editing, and learning tools on the userās smartphone. Advanced spatial technology provides a rich 3D audio experience, while BOSS Tone Exchange offers an infinite sound library to explore any musical style.
Offering all the features of the previous generation in a refreshed external design, KATANA:GO delivers premium sound for everyday playing without the hassle of amps, pedals, and computer interfaces. Users can simply plug it into their instrument, connect earbuds or headphones, call up a memory, and go. Onboard controls provide access to volume, memory selection, and other essential functions, while the built-in screen displays the tuner and current memory. The rechargeable battery offers up to five hours of continuous playing time, and the integrated 1/4-inch plug folds down to create a pocket-size package thatās ready to travel anywhere.
KATANA:GO drives sessions with genuine sounds from the best-selling Katana stage amp series. Guitar mode features 10 unique amp characters, including clean, crunch, the high-gain BOSS Brown type, two acoustic/electric guitar characters, and more. Thereās also a dedicated bass mode with Vintage, Modern, and Flat types directly ported from the Katana Bass amplifiers. Each mode includes a massive library of BOSS effects to explore, with deep sound customization available in the companion BOSS Tone Studio app for iOS and Android.
The innovative Stage Feel feature in KATANA:GO provides an immersive audio experience with advanced BOSS spatial technology. Presets allow the user to position the amp sound and backing music in different places in the sound field, giving the impression of playing with a backline on stage or jamming in a room with friends.
The guitar and bass modes in KATANA:GO each feature 30 memories loaded with ready-to-play sounds. BOSS Tone Studio allows the player to tweak preset memories, create sounds from scratch, or import Tone Setting memories created with stage-class Katana guitar and bass amplifiers. The app also provides integrated access to BOSS Tone Exchange, where users can download professionally curated Livesets and share sounds with the global BOSS community.
Pairing KATANA:GO with a smartphone offers a complete mobile solution to supercharge daily practice. Players can jam along with songs from their music library and tap into BOSS Tone Studioās Session feature to hone skills with YouTube learning content. Itās possible to build song lists, loop sections for focused study, and set timestamps to have KATANA:GO switch memories automatically while playing with YouTube backing tracks.
The versatile KATANA:GO functions as a USB audio interface for music production and online content creation on a computer or mobile device. External control of wah, volume, memory selection, and more are also supported via the optional EV-1-WL Wireless MIDI Expression Pedal and FS-1-WL Wireless Footswitch.
For more information, please visit boss.info.
In our third installment with Santa Cruz Guitar Company founder Richard Hoover, the master luthier shows PG's John Bohlinger how his team of builders assemble and construct guitars like a chef preparing food pairings. Hoover explains that the finer details like binding, headstock size and shape, internal bracing, and adhesives are critical players in shaping an instrument's sound. Finally, Richard explains how SCGC uses every inch of wood for making acoustic guitars or outside ventures like surfboards and art.
We know Horsegirl as a band of musicians, but their friendships will always come before the music. From left to right: Nora Cheng, drummer Gigi Reece, and Penelope Lowenstein.
The Chicago-via-New York trio of best friends reinterpret the best bits of college-rock and ā90s indie on their new record, Phonetics On and On.
Horsegirl guitarists Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein are back in their hometown of Chicago during winter break from New York University, where they share an apartment with drummer Gigi Reece. Theyāre both in the middle of writing papers. Cheng is working on one about Buckminster Fuller for a city planning class, and Lowenstein is untangling Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmannās short story, āThree Paths to the Lake.ā
āIt was kind of life-changing, honestly. It changed how I thought about womanhood,ā Lowenstein says over the call, laughing a bit at the gravitas of the statement.
But the moment of levity illuminates the fact that big things are happening in their lives. When they released their debut album, 2022ās Versions of Modern Performance, the three members of Horsegirl were still teenagers in high school. Their new, sophomore record, Phonetics On and On, arrives right in the middle of numerous first experiencesātheir first time living away from home, first loves, first years of their 20s, in university. Horsegirl is going through changes. Lowenstein notes how, through moving to a new city, their friendship has grown, too, into something more familial. They rely on each other more.
āIf the friendship was ever taking a toll because of the band, the friendship would come before the band, without any doubt.āāPenelope Lowenstein
āEveryone's cooking together, you take each other to the doctor,ā Lowenstein says. āYou rely on each other for weird things. I think transitioning from being teenage friends to suddenly working together, touring together, writing together in this really intimate creative relationship, going through sort of an unusual experience together at a young age, and then also starting school togetherāI just feel like it brings this insane intimacy that we work really hard to maintain. And if the friendship was ever taking a toll because of the band, the friendship would come before the band without any doubt.ā
Horsegirl recorded their sophomore LP, Phonetics On and On, at Wilcoās The Loft studio in their hometown, Chicago.
These changes also include subtle and not-so-subtle shifts in their sophisticated and artful guitar-pop. Versions of Modern Performance created a notion of the band as ā90s college-rock torchbearers, with reverb-and-distortion-drenched numbers that recalled Yo La Tengo and the Breeders. Phonetics On and On doesnāt extinguish the flame, but itās markedly more contemporary, sacrificing none of the catchiness but opting for more space, hypnotic guitar lines, and meditative, repeated phrases. Cheng and Lowenstein credit Welsh art-pop wiz Cate Le Bonās presence as producer in the studio as essential to the sonic direction.
āOn the record, I think we were really interested in Young Marble Giantsāsuper minimal, the percussiveness of the guitar, and how you can do so much with so little.āāNora Cheng
āWe had never really let a fourth person into our writing process,ā Cheng says. āI feel like Cate really changed the way we think about how you can compose a song, and built off ideas we were already thinking about, and just created this very comfortable space for experimentation and pushed us. There are so many weird instruments and things that aren't even instruments at [Wilcoās Chicago studio] The Loft. I feel like, definitely on our first record, we were super hesitant to go into territory that wasn't just distorted guitar, bass, and drums.ā
Nora Cheng's Gear
Nora Cheng says that letting a fourth personāWelsh artist Cate Le Bonāinto the trioās songwriting changed how they thought about composition.
Photo by Braden Long
Effects
- EarthQuaker Devices Plumes
- Ibanez Tube Screamer
- TC Electronic Polytune
Picks
- Dunlop Tortex .73 mm
Phonetics On and On introduces warm synths (āJulieā), raw-sounding violin (āIn Twosā), and gamelan tilesācommon in traditional Indonesian musicāto Horsegirlās repertoire, and expands on their already deep quiver of guitar sounds as Cheng and Lowenstein branch into frenetic squonks, warped jangles, and jagged, bare-bones riffs. The result is a collection of songs simultaneously densely textured and spacious.
āI listen to these songs and I feel like it captures the raw, creative energy of being in the studio and being like, āFuck! We just exploded the song. What is about to happen?āā Lowenstein says. āThat feeling is something we didnāt have on the first record because we knew exactly what we wanted to capture and it was the songs we had written in my parentsā basement.ā
Cheng was first introduced to classical guitar as a kid by her dad, who tried to teach her, and then she was subsequently drawn back to rock by bands like Cage The Elephant and Arcade Fire. Lowenstein started playing at age 6, which covers most of her life memories and comprises a large part of her identity. āIt made me feel really powerful as a young girl to know that I was a very proficient guitarist,ā she says. The shreddy playing of Television, Pink Floydās spacey guitar solos, and Yo La Tengoās Ira Kaplan were all integral to her as Horsegirl began.
Penelope Lowenstein's Gear
Penelope Lowenstein likes looking back at the versions of herself that made older records.
Photo by Braden Long
Effects
- EarthQuaker Westwood
- EarthQuaker Bellows
- TC Electronic PolyTune
Picks
- Dunlop Tortex 1.0 mm
Recently, the two of them have found themselves influenced by guitarists both related and unrelated to the type of tunes theyāre trading in on their new album. Lowenstein got into Brazilian guitar during the pandemic and has recently been āin a Jim OāRourke, John Fahey zone.ā
āThereās something about listening to that music where you realize, about the guitar, that you can just compose an entire orchestra on one instrument,ā Lowenstein says. āAnd hearing what the bass in those guitar parts is doingāas in, the E stringāis kind of mind blowing.ā
āOn the record, I think we were really interested in Young Marble Giantsāsuper minimal, the percussiveness of the guitar, and how you can do so much with so little,ā Cheng adds. āAnd also Lizzy Mercier [Descloux], mostly on the Rosa Yemen records. That guitar playing I feel was very inspiring for the anti-solo,[a technique] which appears on [Phonetics On and On].āThis flurry of focused discovery gives the impression that Cheng and Lowensteinās sensibilities are shifting day-to-day, buoyed by the incredible expansion of creative possibilities that setting oneās life to revolve around music can afford. And, of course, the energy and exponential growth of youth. Horsegirl has already clocked major stylistic shifts in their brief lifespan, and itās exciting to have such a clear glimpse of evolution in artists who are, likely and hopefully, just beginning a long journey together.
āThereās something about listening to that music where you realize, about the guitar, that you can just compose an entire orchestra on one instrument.āāPenelope Lowenstein
āIn your 20s, life moves so fast,ā Lowenstein says. āSo much changes from the time of recording something to releasing something that even that process is so strange. You recognize yourself, and you also kind of sympathize with yourself. It's a really rewarding way of life, I think, for musicians, and it's cool that we have our teenage years captured like that, tooāon and on until we're old women.ā
YouTube It
Last summer, Horsegirl gathered at a Chicago studio space to record a sun-soaked set of new and old tunes.