Nightstand (Acoustic) by Tancred

When Maine-based singer/songwriter Jess Abbott originally started writing her third album under the Tancred moniker, she was grappling with feelings of aloneness that floated to the surface in the wake of newfound confidence. With a deeper sense of self came a deeper pondering upon human connectedness and isolation. It was during this nebulous time that allowed Abbott to reclaim and make space for the things that were lost somewhere along the way... personal connections, friendships, books, hobbies.

“I wrote Nightstand during a period in my life where I was beginning to better understand my own emotional nature,” says Abbott. “I had to figure out how to lyrically respect the emotionality I was feeling, while still letting my louder, much less emotional guitar work express itself.” It was through the process of finding this balance that Abbott made songwriting a ritual; half of the week was dedicated to her craft.

Much like the myriad contemplations Jess was facing in her emotional life, her songs also shared a theme of contrast. “That was actually part of why I named the album Nightstand -- a nightstand is a place where we collect this and that, and yet to us, our nightstand is very personal and the items on it make sense together.” In an effort to understand how the songs she wrote for Nightstand could best fit together sonically, Abbott systematically rerecorded each song’s demo acoustically. Through this intimate process of documentation, she would ultimately connect with the songs, and herself. “I fell completely in love with the songs in a new way.”

Nightstand (Acoustic) is a collection of these initial ideas starting to take form -- an intimate look at the songwriter’s process, and a beautiful foreshadowing of what would eventually become Nightstand. Originally released on cassette as an exclusive memento for fans who pre-ordered the album, these recordings were lovingly remixed and remastered with the help of songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs and engineer Jett Galindo.

Detailing a personal memory, Abbott shares “My favorite little piece of the whole release is the sound of a snow plow going down my street, three stories below the bedroom where I wrote this album, during the biggest New England snowstorm of 2017.” As Abbott reveals, “That is the essence of Nightstand -- a time and place where I would dip inside from a busy cycle of touring and socializing, isolate myself, listen to the world outside my window, and stare a bit too long at my nightstand, wondering what it would say if it could speak.”

tancredmusic.com
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