After months of living around the heat, the edges of the day are beginning to soften. Mornings stretch a little longer. Windows open again. We find ourselves outside without planning to be.
It feels fitting that our fall New Moon Playlist comes from Sean Hayes, whose music has a way of holding two things at once: movement and stillness, lightness and weight, dancing and crying. Sometimes all within the same song.
Sean describes that duality as something built into both the way he makes music and the way he listens to it.
“I love music that makes you want to move your body but I also love intimate emotional revelations in music. That moment when all your guardrails are down and you just let the music and feeling hit. Dancing alone to a song that is all yours.”
This month, Sean is releasing his tenth album, Bright on Bright, a collection of songs recorded largely live with his longtime band in rural Sonoma County. There’s an immediacy to it that feels right for this moment between seasons: songs about perseverance and distraction, mortality and gratitude, and finding some light even when you can see the dark.
Or, as Sean describes the album:
“Bright on Bright is an easy drive to a favorite destination with that person you can confide in or laugh with. That person who can point out the dark and bring in some light. Birds chatter and honeybees sing. You fight till you drop, mountains collapse in the blink of an eye, and we are all reborn as trees.”
The title track began with a guitar line Sean had been carrying around for a while, waiting for it to find its place. Then came the words: we are doing alright.
It’s a simple thought, but maybe an important one to carry into a new season.
Sean talks about recognizing his own tendency toward catastrophizing, getting caught up in all the small things that could go wrong rather than looking toward the beautiful place ahead. Bright on Bright became, in his words, “a little celebration of the people that remind you to stay positive.”
There’s something very new moon about that to us. Not pretending the uncertainty isn’t there, but choosing where to place our attention. Letting one season end without needing to know exactly what the next one will hold.
For this fall playlist, Sean gathered songs for that in-between place. Music to move to, feel to, and maybe dance alone to when no one is watching.
Featured Artist: Sean Hayes
You’ve said your songs are for dancing to or crying to, sometimes both. Does that duality shape how you formed this new album?
That duality is built into how I make music and how I enjoy music. I love music that makes you want to move your body but I also love intimate emotional revelations in music. That moment when all your guardrails are down and you just let the music and feeling hit. Dancing alone to a song that is all yours.
Is there an artist or song that always resets you, no matter what’s going on, something you’d call a “new moon” song?
Some voices I can always hear and never get tired of. Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, Otis Redding, Bob Marley.
“Bright on Bright” has this thread of catastrophizing and free-falling running through it, but it lands somewhere steadier. For us it feels like a gentle “we’ve got this” moment. What was going on for you when you wrote it?
The guitar line was around for a while trying to make its way into a song when the first line came out, “we are doing alright.” I heard the word catastrophizing a few years ago and immediately related to it. Simple habit of thinking of all the little problems that can get in the way rather than the beautiful spot you are headed. I have to catch myself from that negative viewpoint all the time. The song is a little celebration of the people that remind you to stay positive.
The album Bright on Bright is out September 15th. What’s it like putting this one out into the world? Does it feel different from past releases?
I have to acknowledge how much my wife helped me in every step of this particular record. She is not a musician or a producer but she is a get-things-done kind of person and will let you know what she thinks. From figuring out where to record, the cover artwork and listening to the different takes of songs, I can always lean on her. All of my records are self-released as well, so if you have discovered the music it was probably passed on by a friend!
What was the creative process like making this record? Did anything about how you wrote or recorded it surprise you?
I wrote some of these songs over a few years and some are old songs dressed up for a different night out. Eventually the pressure of the songs needing to be recorded pushes me into a studio. It was mostly recorded in two days here in Sonoma County and then I tinkered on little things in my backyard studio, while mixing the songs with my next-door neighbor. Awesome having a mix engineer living next door!
I’m always surprised by the recording and mixing process. Taking away a drum part or adding horns changes the song so drastically. At some point you have to accept what you are wearing and head out to the party.
Listen
Sean’s Fall New Moon Playlist is an invitation into the season: songs to turn up, songs to sit quietly with, and songs that somehow manage to be both.
Put it on as the light changes, open the windows, and see where it takes you.
As always, follow us on Spotify to catch each new playlist as it arrives. Set an intention, put this on, and let the new cycle begin.
About the New Moon Playlist
On the New Moon, the earth, moon, and sun align making us unaware of the moon’s presence in the sky. Without the visual presence and glow of the moon, other celestial bodies typically hidden now shine brighter. Our chances of seeing the sky clearly are heightened on this day, making it a day of clarity and new beginnings. Creatively it’s the perfect time to set intentions for a new cycle of dreams and goals, and ways of manifesting them.
Follow The Joshua Tree House on Spotify and be the first to hear new playlists. Last season’s New Moon Spotify Playlist featured the Angelo De Augustine.
