Life of the Record

• The Making of TRAMP by Sharon Van Etten - featuring Sharon Van Etten and Aaron Dessner

  In celebration of Sharon Van Etten’s breakthrough third album, Tramp, we take a detailed look at how it was made. Growing up in New Jersey, Sharon Van Etten studied music by learning several instruments and singing in the choir. After graduating high school, she went to Middle Tennessee State University to study recording. Though she started writing songs around the year 2000, she didn’t perform or release music until 2005 when she moved back to New Jersey. Later she moved to New York and started working for Ba Da Bing Records. She signed to the Language of Stone label and released her debut album, Because I Was in Love in 2009. Her next record, Epic, was released in 2010 and included the song “Love More,” which was recorded for the Shaking Through documentary series. After a group of musicians, including Aaron Dessner of The National and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, covered the song “Love More,” Sharon reached out to them to see if they’d be interested in collaborating. She began recording songs with Aaron Dessner in his garage studio in Brooklyn. Her third album, Tramp, was eventually released in 2012. In this episode, Sharon Van Etten describes this pivotal moment in her career when she was gaining confidence as an artist and learning how to collaborate with other musicians. She talks about how Aaron Dessner’s garage studio offered a her a place of refuge during a time when she was living between sublets and keeping her belongings in her car. In the garage studio, they were able to spend the course of a year building up her songs from minimal demos into fully fleshed out arrangements. Aaron Dessner describes his first time producing for another artist and how he was immediately struck by Sharon’s voice and musical mind. He talks about the music culture in Brooklyn at the time where he would be able to call in friends and collaborators to come over and record whenever they had time. This allowed them to have a community of voices, string arrangements and a full band sound for the record, which was new for Sharon’s music at the time. From touring with The National, to excavating songs from a hard drive, to bringing in friends like Bryan Devendorf, Zach Condon, Jenn Wasner, Julianna Barwick, Matt Barrick and more, to learning to deal with anxiety and crowds, to taking inspiration from Patti Smith’s Just Kids, to a turning point moment for both Sharon as an artist and Aaron as a producer, we’ll hear the stories around how the record came together.

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• Preview: Fela Kuti: Fear No Man

  Subscribe to ⁠Fela Kuti: Fear No Man.⁠ In a world that’s on fire, what is the role of art? What can music actually…do? Can a song save a life? Change a law? Topple a president? Get you killed? In Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, Jad Abumrad—creator of Radiolab, More Perfect, and Dolly Parton’s America—tells the story of one of the great political awakenings in music: how a classically trained 'colonial boy’ traveled to America, in search of Africa, only to return to Nigeria and transform his sound into a battering ram against the state—creating a new musical language of resistance called Afrobeat. For years, the world’s biggest stars made pilgrimages to Nigeria to experience Fela’s Shrine, the epicenter of his musical revolution. But when the mix of art and activism got too hot, the state pulled out its guns, and literally opened fire. Fela Kuti: Fear No Man is an uncategorizable mix of oral history, musicology, deep dive journalism, and cutting edge sound design that takes listeners deep inside Fela’s life, music, and legacy. Drawing from over 200 interviews with Fela Kuti’s family, friends, as well as scholars, activists, and luminaries like Burna Boy, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Santigold, and former President Barack Obama (just to name a few), Fela Kuti: Fear No Man journeys deep into the soul of Afrobeat to explore the transformative power of art and the role artists can play in this current moment of global unrest. An Audible Original presented by Audible and Higher Ground. Produced by Western Sound and Talkhouse. ©2025 Higher Ground, LLC (P)2025 Audible Originals, LLC.

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• The Making of WRITER'S BLOCK by Peter Bjorn and John - feat. Peter Morén, Björn Yttling and John Eriksson

  In celebration of Peter, Bjorn and John’s breakthrough third album, 'Writer’s Block,' we take a detailed look at how it was made. When Peter Morén and Björn Yttling started playing music together in high school, they bonded over a shared love of guitar rock. When they moved to Stockholm after high school, they met John Eriksson, who was a trained percussionist, playing in a percussion ensemble. They eventually asked him if he would consider playing drums with them in a pop band and the trio, Peter Bjorn and John, was born. In 2001, they self-released their first EP with a self-titled album following in 2002. They jumped between Swedish labels Beat That! Records to Planekonomi and released their second album, 'Falling Out' in 2004. At this point, they considered ending the band, but decided to make one more album and record it themselves with Yttling producing. 'Writer’s Block' was eventually released in 2006. In this episode, Peter Morén reflects on connecting with Yttling early on and how their sound evolved over the years. Morén shares how he originally approached guitar by using multiple chords and leaving little space until Eriksson encouraged him to play less. Björn Yttling describes his role as the producer and how the recording space he had at that time was not conducive to recording a full band. Despite the constraints of having no budget and only a couple of microphones, they were able to capture a unique sound by relying heavily on minimal drum arrangements, percussion overdubs and extensive use of a Space Echo. John Eriksson discusses his naive approach to the drums and how the relaxed recording atmosphere helped them to try new things with this album. With Morén and Yttling encouraging him to write and sing for the first time, Eriksson was able to add another dimension to the album with his own attempts at writing pop songs. From using a drum kit found in a trash heap, to relying on whistling instead of recording synth lines, to making the drum lines sample-able, to how hip hop artists like Drake, Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar would go on to rap over beats from the album, to being in their late twenties and feeling like the band had run its course, to the unexpected global success of “Young Folks”, we’ll hear the stories of how the record came together.

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• The Making of A RIVER AIN'T TOO MUCH TO LOVE by Smog - featuring Bill Callahan

  For the 20th anniversary of the Smog album, A River Ain’t Too Much to Love, we take a detailed look at how it was made. Bill Callahan began recording music under the name Smog in 1988 and releasing music on his own label, Disaster. After signing with Drag City early on, he released a series of albums in the 1990s and continued into the early 2000s. At this point, he was living in Chicago and wanted a change of scenery. After moving to Austin, Texas, he began writing songs for his 11th album. He decided to abandon the Smog name and start using his real name, but Drag City asked him to wait until the next record before making that change. After a two week tour with Jim White on drums and Connie Lovatt on bass, the three of them immediately went into Willie Nelson’s studio, Pedernales, to begin recording the album. A River Ain’t Too Much to Love was eventually released in 2005. In this episode, Bill Callahan reflects on this period of his life when he was in his late thirties and felt like he wanted to settle down. By moving to Austin and buying a house with a yard, he found himself spending a lot more time in nature, which greatly impacted the songs he was writing. Despite having writer’s block initially, his songwriting opened up when he bought a nylon string guitar and taught himself fingerpicking for the first time. This new approach to guitar playing really shaped the song arrangements and how his vocal would come across. Callahan describes how this transitional time in his life inspired him to give up the Smog name and start using his own name to reflect his newfound approach to making music. From the leap of moving somewhere without knowing anyone, to recording as a power trio, to the importance of a good title or central image, to taking inspiration from Mickey Newbury and Johnny Cash, to key overdubs by Joanna Newsom and Thor Harris, to a recording malfunction that lead to barely audible bass, to the lacking nature of waltz time, to a clear sound like a river, we’ll hear the stories of how the record came together.

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• The Making of CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH (Self-Titled) - featuring Alec Ounsworth

  For the 20th anniversary of the debut Clap Your Hands Say Yeah album, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Alec Ounsworth began recording demos of the songs he was writing, he connected with musicians he met while attending Connecticut College. The band was officially formed in 2004 and included Ounsworth, Lee Sargent, Tyler Sargent, Sean Greenhalgh and Robbie Guertin. As the rest of the band relocated to New York, Ounsworth remained in his hometown of Philadelphia and commuted for rehearsals and shows. They started recording an EP that they were intending to shop around to labels. While continuing to work on new songs, the EP evolved into a full-length album that they recorded in spurts when they could get studio time. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Self-Titled) was eventually self-released in 2005. In this episode, Ounsworth describes his songwriting process for the album and how his demos grew into the full band arrangements. He lays out his vision for the album and how he was hyper focused on adding overdubs, interludes and song segues to create a more impactful listening experience. By releasing and distributing the album themselves, he describes the value he put on being independent at that time. In addition, he talks about the discomfort he felt when the band started gaining a lot of attention, partially due to a Pitchfork review of the album. From being labeled “blog rock,” to developing his unconventional vocal style, to writing about romantic relationships and the prospect of success, to taking inspiration from artists like Brian Eno, Tom Waits, Wire, The Magnetic Fields and David Bowie, to the value of doing it yourself and remaining independent, we’ll hear the stories of how the record came together.

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