Human Experience

https://miadoitodd.bandcamp.com/album/human-experience

” My new album, Human Experience, chronicles our family life on the island of Maui for the last few years. The ten songs came to me very quickly in between cooking and cleaning and trips to the park or beach. They have their own island flavor. Plus there’s one song in French, which relates to memory, and the title track, an existential disco jam about friendship, which feels a bit more urban.

The album was produced by Micah Nelson, Willie Nelson’s youngest son, who grew up on Maui. Micah and I have many friends in common and had planned out our recording session over a couple phone meetings, but we had never met until he arrived at our house on the day after Thanksgiving to start our week long recording session. Micah is such a wonderful human being and a brilliant musician. We had a blast recording my songs. It came very naturally. My longtime percussionist and friend, Andres Renteria, came to play percussion. Aroyn Day from Micah’s band Particle Kid, came to play bass. Micah’s wife Alex documented the event, and my friend Grace Oh cooked for us. It was magic. The day we finished, a huge full moon came out and blessed us with a moonbow.

A couple months later, we finished up the album, mixing with Mario Caldato Jr. in northeast Los Angeles, my home town. We have guest appearances from Miguel Atwood-Ferguson on strings, Gabe Noel on bass, my husband Jesse Peterson on keys and whistles and our daughter Ynez on backup vocals. The final track, “Kaupakalua,” my homage to the Hawaiian mele honoring a place, brings together two of Maui’s most beloved musicians, George Kahumoku Jr. and Geri Valdriz. I hope this album brings some peace and joy to your household, even if you are under duress in these trying times. Put it on repeat, and it could brighten up your day! “