When he’s not being a producer or an engineer for other artists, Jason Weinheimer is working on his own solo project, The Libras. With his most recent collaborations, The Libras have created the album, “Faded,” which includes their latest single, “Quiet Part Loud.”
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When all the tours and gigs started to get canceled this year for Weinheimer and some of his friends, he found that he had more time on his hands than usual. This is when he got the inspiration to start working on “Faded.”
The single “Quiet Part Loud” was written to “pass the time,” says Weinheimer and it will be included in the upcoming record. A few months ago, he and guitarist Arnold Kim started to send some song ideas back and forth to each other. Eventually, this process led to the final version of this single that is filled with incredible vocals.
Since Weinheimer lives in Arkansas and Kim lives in California, they weren’t able to work together in person to bring this song to life. Luckily, they have been making music together since they were in high school, so their connection was strong enough to make long distance writing work.
According to Weinheimer, this is a relationship song that talks about the conflict of lack of communication.
“What I like on that track in particular, is that Arnold sings on the whole thing so it’s wall to wall harmonies.”
“Faded” focuses on the emotions of what it’s like to be in quarantine, since all the songs were written during that time. The opening lyrics, “I’m tired of you, I’m tired of me,” set the tone for the rest of the songs. “Quiet Part Loud” fits into this album because while it is about a relationship, it contains some similar emotions to being in quarantine. In both cases, they revolve around feeling stuck in a bad situation.
The other artists that will be featured on this Americana album include, Paul Griffith, Al Gamble, Paddy Ryan, Jesse Aycock, Chris Michaels, Steve Berlin, Mark Franklin and Kirk Smothers.
Just like the single, the rest of the tracks on this album had to be recorded a little differently in these unusual times. Almost all of them were recorded remotely in home studios, but Weinheimer was still able to handle the production himself.
Even though he is used to producing on a regular basis, there was very little direction given from him. The production to him is deciding who will play what and letting them do their own work with the music.
“Especially with the remote tracks that we did, the reason I work with those guys is because I love what they do naturally, whether it’s the drums, guitar, keyboard, bass, etc.,” says Weinheimer. “So, I’m definitely not a micro-manager when it comes to producing. It’s more about inviting the right people to the party. In this case, the bulk of it wasn’t done physically in real time, but it’s still about inviting those personalities and letting them do their thing.”
This group of talented musicians clearly put a lot of hard work into both “Quiet Part Loud” and “Faded” even though the conditions weren’t ideal.
Listen to “Quiet Part Loud” exclusively on American Songwriter:
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