Anatomy of a Kickass First Album

Okay, so Roaring Noon isn’t SitDownTracy’s first album. They released a demo in the summer of 2008, but for an indie band, having a full-length EP to perform and tour with is essential. Recently, I spoke to band member Janelle Mailhot about what went into creating the album, and, not surprisingly, in the end it all came down to the basics: art, love, and analog.

AS: How did SitDownTracy come to the decision to record a full-length album, and what other professionals did youenlist to help you put Roaring Noon together? Did you have a lot of support?

JM: An old college instructor of mine was incredibly supportive of my musical aspirations, and suggested I see his friend, Dan Donahue, who has been performing and producing since he was in his 20s. Dan’s mentor was Daniel Lanois, and they share a preference for analog over digital recording, which lends itself wonderfully to the warm yet live sound we were going for. We purposely left tiny mistakes and talking in the final mix, because we wanted a true representation of our live performance.

Dan has produced most of Fred Penner’s albums—and won a Juno for one of them—so it was kinda funny having multiple Fred Penners as our audience while recording. Dan’s basement studio is really cozy, which was a very nice introduction to the recording process, which can be very intimidating.