“As a storm made its way to shore on an otherwise still and perfect evening in August, I sat on the porch of a beach house letting my fingers dance around the moment in complete awe. The sky above was filled with stars, each one nestled in mystery, while the storm cloud continued to surge toward me. Lightning flashed and I counted the seconds between it and the rolling thunder, attempting to gauge the distance. An untouchable sky above me and an unavoidable sky in front. Both captivating and devastating. In that instant I began writing ‘Stormy Point,’ and what would become ‘Fable and Fire.’
2020 left us no time to count the seconds before the thunder boomed overhead. We felt the glow on our faces, we closed our eyes on the realization that life as we knew it was coming to a screeching halt, and the thunder shook our core in the same moment. The storm was upon us. Like a child reaching for the covers I folded in on myself. My body became a shield, my mind a vessel. I began reaching for melodies and found them to be readily available. Like gazing at a star and finding yourself instantly in its orbit. For weeks, I was gathering various parts of myself and putting them to melody. I spent one evening around a fire thinking of my late mother’s hands. I have struggled off and on with her memory and hating myself for not spending hours just taking in her entire being when she was here. That cold fall night, sitting around the fire pit, her hands hovered above the coals. I remembered the passion she had for playing piano. I remembered her effortlessness. I remembered her tone and her timing. I wrote the song ‘Fable and Fire’ that night with my mother’s hands.”