Leem Of Earth

[leemofearth]

Last spring I sat down with Mercie and we made some demos for six of her songs. She sang and I played acoustic guitar. We sent those demos to Eric from LoE.

He said, Yep, let’s get this going.

So Mercie and I flew to Oregon in June of 2025. Eric and his wife Noelle live in Monmouth and we stayed in the next town over, Independence.

My goal was not only to record her music but to show her what the artist life looks like. You might have to wake up in unfamiliar surroundings. Your hot tea might be harder to make. You are going to have to work on your music all day long with a break for lunch.

She was a champ. Eric was a champ and his producing on her songs is amazing. I was just there to be her angel investor and I also got the opportunity to watch her shine. So thankful for her happiness to be in the moment and so thankful for Eric and his work on her songs.

ETA: hahaha I do not know how I forgot that I played electrics on a few of of her songs. Another guitarist named Ben Kimsal also played and he did the cool riffy stuff.

ETA again: I played on every song according to Eric. But I promise my guitars were probably kinda messy and he made me sound better.

[leemofearth]

Weekend Wander 💚

By the way - you can pre-save Mercie’s first single now! Her music name is Wormogenic (isn’t that such a cool name!?) and the single is out June 12th! I am so excited for and proud of her. I am going to go through my photos from last summer when I took her to Oregon to record with Eric and will share soon!

[leemofearth]

Perusing a Parley’s magazine from June 1883 and that last conundrum got me good.

In Leem news, we are *this* close to final mixes! I listened to the whole album yesterday and I’m just loving it. Everybody in the band did such lovely work.

I had to take a few days off from artwork related jobs but getting back to it today and I’m so delighted with the original painting on the cover and original illustrations for the booklet. Thinking about including complimentary crayons which might be my next band name.

[leemofearth]

It’s new vintage guitar day and yayyyyy I love it! This new Leem is the first time ever for me that I only wrote one song on guitar. So here is the first verse of that song on my new-to-me old guitar.

[leemofearth]

Dadgummit I love life.

My brain needed some processing time so I headed out on a walk to listen to a new mix and felt so good about it! It feels kind of like an anthem. I thought I wrote this record for Leem listeners, but I’m pretty sure I also wrote it for the 10 or 12 year-old version of me who would have been absolutely delighted to hear the music she would get to make in the future. I mentioned that to E when we discussed the mix and he said little E would have loved this album, too.

The trees are so beautiful and green, so I paused to take some pictures of one of my favorite scenes and looked down into the pond and noticed what I’m pretty sure was a dead turtle. There were other smaller turtles gathered around him and it seemed like they were having a discussion and then one of them swam forward and took the turtles head in his mouth and started shaking him like Wake Up! I stood there crying, which fogged up my sunglasses. Said a prayer for the confused little turtles and continued my walk and the first people I encountered only five seconds later were three young men with a boombox blasting “I am getting so hot I wanna take my clothes off” or whatever the lyrics are. One of the guys was singing in a really great falsetto.

Like I said: Dadgummit I love life.

[leemofearth]

I’ve been going through something…no, several somethings that have, yet again, brought me to the end of myself. Every time I am in this place I rest all of my weight on the One who cares. He sees. If you are going through something terrible and scary and if you wonder that nobody cares: I hope you know that He sees you, He loves you and knows what you are going through.

Also, in Leem news, we only have two songs left to mix! Artwork should be finished before masters are done so we will be able to immediately send everything out for printing and we are set for release in the fall. My favorite time of year.

[leemofearth]

[leemofearth]

This part of the process might be a little boring for you. However, on my end, I am having quite a bit of fun because I am listening to final mixes. Eric and I go back and forth with our mixer for this record, Justin. And we might ask for a change or two but for the most part the mixes are amazing. Here’s my screen:

And then I am also working on visuals and what’s gonna go to YouTube and and what is the lyric booklet going to look like and working with many different artists at the same time.

I used to wish that I could break even in art. Now, I am thankful that I can turn my dollars into art and am thankful I even have that opportunity. I used to wish that I had enough listeners to justify the whole process of releasing music. Now, I know that I can’t control anything and especially not everything. The music lands where it lands and I am thankful for everyone who walks beside me and listens.

If you are walking alongside while I dream out loud, I am thankful for you.

[leemofearth]

I’m meandering through a Parley’s magazine issue from 1833 and found out that ravens, eagles and geese used to live to be 100 years old! Nearly two hundred years later and their life spans have all been reduced to a quarter of that.

I also found out that one should really try to not be an ass because your life span is only 30 years old and if you are an ass and older than that then you’re living on borrowed time, I’m afraid.

[leemofearth]

What word do you hear?

[leemofearth]

There is always something happening in my world. I get outside so I can process.

Working on Leem but also the Leem cover model for years is releasing singles soon.

If you and your kids don’t love her singles I will be very surprised.

[leemofearth]

A scene from a hazy early evening sun on her way to setting for me and lighting on a different part of the world for others.

In music news: we are still in the rough mixing phase. Eric is working away and we’re halfway there…wherever there is. In my first call with Eric about this project, I mentioned a very specific instrument that I could hear in some of the tracks and then he came up with a couple more ideas for instruments along the same lines during recording so we are working on hiring out the playing of these instruments so that they can be added to the pile o’ tracks before the mixer starts working. I’m not going to say what they are because I want it to be a surprise but what I will say is that my ears are very pleased.

[leemofearth]

[leemofearth]

Went on a walk this morning and listened to rough mixes and I believe in a good cry every now and again but I was nearly weeping. There’s a line on The Old Child that says “Oh I wanted to tell you when I got lost but I kept on keeping the act up” and I am so relieved that all of that is over and I can sing about it and feel better.

[leemofearth]

I worked a lot of different jobs starting when I was 14 or so…mostly coffee shops and a few retail jobs. I was also a janitor for a summer. I started out at as a hostess at a seafood restaurant on the bay. My managers often told me that I was very task-oriented. Heck yeah. How else do you get things done?

When I am working on a record, every phase of it brings new tasks. Some I think about for a while before bringing them into focus and working on them myself or delegating. Now is that season: I’m spending most of my time paying close attention to details. When you have the record in your hands and the vinyl circling and the sound coming through your speakers, you’ll know that all of these moments in between camera opportunities existed and I can’t wait for you to be in that future moment. I’ll be there, too.

[leemofearth]

Found two unicorns at the antique store. Now they are home in the studio.

One amongst the green and one up in the stars.

[thefugitivesaint]

Dorothy Pulis Lathrop (1891-1980), ''The Princess and Curdie'' by George MacDonald, 1946 "Down Swooped the Birds"