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New Shoes
This summer I released New Shoes, Kyla Tilley’s first full length solo album. Parts of it are older recordings that we salvaged from earlier attempts, and some of it was recorded more recently. The pictures on the front and back cover were taken at a songwriting retreat I attended in November 2018. It was very inspiring, and I think deserves it’s own post. The album was already recorded, so no retreat songs to be found here, but I packed appropriate shoes as it looked like it might be a nice spot to do a cover shoot, and it was. My husband Julian took the photos, mixed and mastered the record, did the graphic design, and played drums on several songs. I’ve got Ed Hudson from Tea & Bread playing fiddle, Sahara Jane and my niece Alycia Paige Walsh Tilley singing back-ups. Meanwhile, as well as singing and playing guitar, I played bass, banjo, and theremin as needed. I borrowed a theremin, and I must say, it is a fun instrument to play. I highly recommend trying it out if you get the chance. You will feel like a wizard.
I chose songs that I thought would work well together, and in the end there is a thread of stories about women on this album. It begins and ends with uplifting songs about embracing who you are and enjoying life. There are a couple empowering numbers about taking control of your situation, there’s some songs about domestic and working situations, and it takes a dark turn in the middle. These are all songs that I’ve been playing live over the past few years, most were written when I still lived in Newfoundland, so anyone who’s been to a show should recognize some of them.
I did a CD release show in St. John’s in July (as that seemed appropriate) then I spent August playing shows from Toronto to West Dublin Nova Scotia. I’ll be making some posts about that over the fall as I trawl through the photos and videos we took on the tour.
Meanwhile, the album is available on CD from my bandcamp page, and digitally, where ever you buy digital music.
And about 10 000 other places.