Quiet Takes newest record Regrets Only found singer-songwriter Sarah Magill returning to music after a long interruption. A resident of Eau Claire, WI, Magill allows the gentle rivers and tranquil pastures of America’s Dairyland to flow through her music. And on this stripped back version of “Meri Said,” Magill’s storytelling takes center-stage.

After participating in a Studio Milwaukee Session, Magill got the idea to re-record a keyboard-only version of “Meri Said.” On the album, musical collaborators Sean Carey, Jeremy Boettcher, Ben Lester, and Tim Sullivan added layers of texture and rhythm that transformed the song into a groovy trip through Magill’s psyche. With those layers stripped back, the song’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics take center stage. Magill writes conversations as if they were still-lifes, taking every ounce of emotion and creating something beautiful from disparate moments and phrases. In the choruses, Magill sings lines that rotate and swirl but make it clear she is “trying to get down to the… heart of it.” Revealing the song’s quiet, introspective core allows for listeners to take that conversational journey with her.

Magill isn’t telling us how to feel. She isn’t revealing some lofty truth that only the wise few can discern. She’s inviting us to listen: to take in every moment and find the beauty. Even if it means getting hurt. Even if it means things can’t go back to the way they were before. Quiet Takes is taking us on a journey to the “core of it.” And I hope we are all ready for the songs to come.

Q&A

“Meri Said” feels like this beautiful tapestry of conversational moments. How do you take these fragments and find the thread that connects them?

Thanks! I think the earliest version of this song started during a week when I was feeling creatively frustrated and felt like I had nothing to say. But I’m always collecting quotes from strangers and friends alike, so I collaged and paraphrased my way into some verses using a few that had hit me hard recently. I ended up finishing the song much later when the first verse arrived right on time; sometimes it’s backwards like that.

Where did you record this stripped back version?

In producer Zach Hanson’s living room. We had recorded the album out at a beautiful studio called The Hive. But we decided to keep it super simple for this version. I wanted it to sound like when I play “Meri Said” at a house show, or how it felt when I played it for Radio Milwaukee, just me and keys, so we decided to…just do that : ) We just set up my keyboard in his living room, just outside his home studio room and tracked it live for several takes. I can’t remember which one this was…I think the second to last? Sometimes less is best.

Talk about the video! What made you want to film out in nature?

I worked with Erik and Sarah Elstran on the video, and the concept was their idea: starting close-in, so the setting isn’t clear, and then doing it in one shot (echoing the one-take live recording approach) to reveal the trees. We had tossed around a bunch of concepts, and we all love outdoors and the trails around Eau Claire, so the setting felt really natural. My Instagram is basically just music and moody landscape pics, so, you know, on-brand. It was so much fun to hang out in the woods with them and make the idea into reality. (And if you haven’t listened to Sarah E.’s project The Nunnery yet, go do it!!)

Do you see yourself making stripped back versions of other songs from Regrets Only?

If you see me play solo (currently setting up shows for this winter), you’ll hear those versions! I’m finishing up demos and getting ready to schedule studio time this fall, so I’m more focused on this next round of songs. But never say never!

When can we expect to hear more songs?

I’m going to put out a cover later this fall that was recorded in the same living living room session as “Meri Said (Spruce Street Version)”. And then we’ll see on the next album…next year? Fingers crossed. I’m really looking forward to going back in the studio, trying out some different processes, and seeing what happens.

LINKS:
https://quiettakes.com/
https://www.instagram.com/quiettakes/