Heaven by Lauren Mann
Heaven is an intimate collection of songs brought together through expansive journeys of finding home, blossoming into motherhood and navigating personal growth through it all. Each of these songs is a tableau of time and place, a glimpse through the window into scenes of our ordinary life.
The idea for bringing this collection of songs together was a spontaneous spark of an idea that was birthed after finding out that we were expecting twins. I decided to book some recording time and bring to life two songs as a last creative act before motherhood became all consuming for a season. I had the pleasure of working with Leeroy Stagger at Neighbourhood Recorders and together we recorded Collarbone and Sing Your Song. It was a beautiful, organic process, using only the instruments we had available to us and finishing both songs in just two days. I appreciated Leeroy’s approach to the creative process, instead of striving for perfection, we let the songs breathe and embraced the imperfections and magical moments along the way.
After these songs were finished, I decided to combine them with two other songs I had previously recorded but had never released. Different Light, the opening track on the EP, is a B-side from my album Memory & Desire, recorded at my home in 2020 and produced by Josh Rob Gwilliam. It has always been a special song for me, chronicling my journey of discovery during one particular summer, both of the land around me and of myself.
The final song on the collection is Heaven, a song I had been writing and re-writing for a few years, without knowing where to take it. I finally booked some time with Daniel Klenner last year and recorded it in little pockets of time between work and motherhood. Daniel helped the song take shape in such a beautiful way, and it feels like the perfect piece to close this EP with.
Along this journey, I’ve had no grand expectations for this project. It has been an honest pursuit of embracing creativity in the margins of life, and even so, it has come together with such ease. This is also largely because of the wonderful folks who have been a part of its creation including the three producers who worked on the songs, Ryan Dahle who mastered everything, Kenta Kikuchi who created stunning images for the album artwork, Mercedes Papalia’s gorgeous flower garden where we took the photos, and my husband Mike who continues to support and encourage all my creative endeavours.
Tracklist
| 1. | Different Light | 3:35 |
| 2. | Collarbone | 3:48 |
| 3. | Sing Your Song | 4:05 |
| 4. | Heaven | 5:14 |
Credits
License
All rights reserved.
Lauren is a woman of many hobbies and identities including being a songwriter, musician, adventurer, mama, and island dweller. These days, life is centred around her family with music being accompanied by tin whistles and tambourines, and songs being sung on repeat at bedtime. Still, she finds pockets of time to write and create, and harness the inspiration that abounds.