Weaving thoughtful, introspective lyrics with irresistible melodies, Vanessa Peters has been releasing album after album of well-crafted folk-rock gems for nearly two decades. She has played thousands of shows across the US and Europe and has opened for artists like Josh Rouse, Nina Persson & James Yorkston, 10,000 Maniacs, John Oates, and Matthew Sweet.
While her previous release, Modern Age, was raucous and rowdy, Peters’s new album, Flying on
Instruments (due out February 23rd via Idol Records) is a heart-rending return to the format that reviewers and fans have come to expect from Peters. Co-produced by Grammy-winning producer Joe Reyes, Flying on Instruments represents a return to a more pure folk-pop/rock form; the production is stripped-down and centers largely around the piano. “For this record we wanted to really hear the band playing together, especially our amazing pianist Matteo, who kinda got lost in all the guitars on the last album,” explained Peters. “We recorded most of these songs live in the room, arranging the songs together as we went along. Everything feels very direct and honest.”
For years Vanessa Peters has showcased her songwriting ability, releasing albums that have run the gamut from indie-pop to alt-country to experimental folk to 70s-era throwback singer-songwriter rock. With Flying on Instruments, Vanessa and her band have once again crafted a beautiful album that is powerful yet sensitive, brimming with hope and empathy.
Today Glide is excited to offer an exclusive premiere of the new single “Halfway Through (PRE-ORDER) ahead of its official release on January 12th. The song definitely finds Peters gravitating back towards a folk-pop sound as she shares heartfelt lyrics over simple acoustic strumming and a clean drumbeat. Once again, the song also captures Peters’ ability to craft infectious songs that are also emotionally resonant and deeply stirring. While one could draw parallels between her sound and singer-songwriters who dominated the radio in the 90s, the fact remains that Peters is a supremely underrated artist for our current time.
Listen to the tune and read our conversation with Vanessa Peters below…
What is the story behind this song? How did it come together? What is it about?
I wrote this song towards the end of the “Modern Age” recording sessions. Unfortunately, we already had too many tracks for that album, and this song had a definite Americana/songwriter feeling that didn’t pair as well with the other tracks on MA, so we decided to hold it back. I’m glad we did, because it really became the centerpiece of this record for me — a kind of thematic jumping-off point.
I wrote it more or less in one sitting, at a time ( in September 2020) during which I think many of us were really feeling our mortality staring us in the face. I have always had a hard time making decisions, letting go of people and places and things. Always afraid of making the wrong decisions, you know? And all of those unmade choices become a huge emotional weight that you don’t even realize you are carrying around until you finally do let them go, and you just feel this enormous sense of relief. It’s one of those things that, of course, I know deep down, but it’s hard to practice in real life. Like so many people, I’m bad at taking my own good advice.
Are there any lyric lines that you really love or that really speak to you? What do you feel makes them resonate?
I love the second verse — “An emotional packrat, I’ve carried my whole life on my back, in my Mary Poppins bag, but now I’m waving the white flag.” For one, I was a huge fan of Mary Poppins growing up (Julie Andrews is one of my idols), and like all small kids, I was fascinated by that bag that always had anything she needed. And I am that way in real life — a total packrat, always carrying a bag that’s probably a little too overloaded with too many pens, USB cables, guitar picks, Post-It Notes, you name it. It makes me feel good to be super prepared for whatever comes my way, you know? But at an emotional level, I also loved the idea that while Mary Poppins was always prepared with the right things in her bag, she wasn’t always prepared with the right answer to heavy questions from the Banks children. I’m moved by the idea of carrying all of the emotions, all of the time, and the weight of that, and how one can keep those feelings and thoughts and memories always at the ready, but at what cost? At a certain point, you have to lay them down in order to be able to move forward; no one should try to carry all of it, but it’s hard to know what to let go of.
If listeners can take away one thing from having heard this song, what do you hope that is?
That I think all of us go through this exact same process — maybe at 30 years old, maybe at 60 years old, but the feeling of one day realizing that time really is slipping away, and we’re doing ourselves a disservice by clinging to the past, by clinging to things that we cannot change, and maybe also by judging ourselves harshly. Those all feel like very universal sentiments to me, things that I have talked about with all of my friends and family over the last few years. If we’re doing it right, then life is a process of discovery, and we’re all still learning, still trying to figure out how to live our best lives, right up until the end.
How does this song fit in among the others on the forthcoming album? How is it similar or different?
This song was one of the earliest tracks, and I think it really helped to set the tone lyrically when I was writing the rest of the album. The production and arrangement are a bit more country/pop than some of the other tracks — in my mind I can hear Natalie Maines singing this — but the lyrics are really in the same thematic wheelhouse as some of the other folkier, more Americana tracks like “Blind Curves” and “How Long.” Many of the songs on this record are very personal, not cloaked in metaphor, and that includes this one — this is a super straightforward song about growing up, getting older, recognizing that it’s time to start removing the dead weight, so to speak.
If you could use only three words to describe your music, what would they be and why?
Nostalgic, empathetic, and honest. I pour my heart into every song I write. I have left songs with good melodies and good arrangements on the backburner for years because I just didn’t connect with them emotionally. Usually I can step away from them, get some distance, and tackle the lyrics from a different perspective and eventually bring them to life. But if they don’t feel honest, then they just have to wait. 😉
