It was made between tours for Causers [of This] over the course of about [two] months. I’d never really consciously recorded a record. Causers was a bunch of demos that I sort of just whipped together. But, Underneath the Pine was a bit more conceptual in that I wanted to keep it all natural and free of samples and loops. I worked on it at my parents house in South Carolina by myself and recorded while they were at work and would stop around when they came home. Recording UTP really pushed me to learn the proper way to record with multiple mics and acoustic space. I was listening to a lot of disco, funk, astral jazz, and psych rock. The lyrics were once again the last thing I added to the songs, you can hear all of the imperfections and happy accidents sprinkled throughout the record that make so many great moments. When it came to mixing I didn’t know what to expect being that I’d never mixed in a studio before. I ended up finding Chase Park Audio in Athens, GA where engineer Drew Vandenberg helped push my insecurities out the way on mixing my vocals. It was the last record I made before moving to California and a lot of the themes in my lyrics were about leaving home and staying in touch with friends and family. For me this record opened the door to make records like What For? and Star Stuff (CBMM2). It was a statement to move beyond the bedroom. Thanks to everyone who has supported me and the band for so long, we honestly wouldn’t be here without you.
