Now more than two decades removed from her touring affiliations with Helium and the Spinanes and the lavishly intimate indie-pop ruminations of Mascott, Kendall Jane Meade is perhaps at her most exposed on Space. Working with producer Charles Newman (Magnetic Fields, Bones Of J.R. Jones), the Detroit native offers up a richly complex post-divorce album that embraces vulnerability with a frayed elegance.
“The Garden,” Space’s leadoff track, was the first “secret” demo Meade made after relocating to Los Angeles. “I say ‘secret’ because there was no agenda to my writing during this time,” says Meade, who was still raw from the breakup of her five-year marriage. “I was writing purely to express my feelings and, frankly, get them out of my brain. I never expected anyone to hear the song.”
When Meade was finally ready to record, Newman asked to hear everything. “He immediately wanted ‘The Garden’ for the album—but I felt it wasn’t ready or complete,” she says. “On a trip home to Detroit to see my dad, I played it for my old pal Matt Van (Electric Six), who jammed on it with me and gently helped me get it over the finish line.”
A few weeks later, Meade and Newman recorded the song at Cottage Sounds in Los Angeles with drummer Butch Norton (Lucinda Williams, Eels), guitarist Eli Wulfmeier (Leroy From The North) and bassist Ed Maxwell.
“It was also important for me to have ‘my girls’ surrounding me on this song, as it reveals a very vulnerable state of mind and a moment in time I experienced while living in Northern California during an active fire season,” says Meade.
So she and Newman headed to New York to capture the singing of Meade’s “longtime besties and collaborators”: Margaret White, Anna Padgett and Verena Weisendanger.
“They created an angelic, Greek-like chorus that supports my vocals and the storyline,” she says. “The song was complete once we got my dear friend and former bandmate Mary Timony to add a beautiful lute melody to the landscape.”
Space is available February 28 on Mother West. We’re proud to premiere Kendall Jane Meade’s “The Garden” video.
—Hobart Rowland
