"musings from the chapel steps"

This may be a bit redundant, as I included something similar in the newsletter section of the website — however, this page gives more insight into the making of the song. Which I know you've all been hankering for. "musings from the chapel steps" was released on all streaming platforms on July 18th, 2025, and I hope you continue to listen to it!

Before I get into the inspiration behind the piece or the people who made the song musically possible, we need to acknowledge all the individuals who have helped me become the artist I am today.

• Asha Tamirisa, a music professor at Bates, met with me over Zoom while I was in Dublin and agreed to conduct an independent study with me upon my return. She was incredibly helpful and gave me so many ideas for this project and for my thesis.
• Another very important person in this endeavor was Simon Klompus, who took the album cover photo and shot footage for the music video. He also listened to at least thirteen different versions of this song and still tells me it sounds good.
• And of course, all of my wonderful friends and family who have helped me along the way. My friends, for keeping me sane while I spent hours upon hours in the Olin Sound Studio. My family, for listening to my music since I was a wee ukulele player, and for never pulling punches on advice (I love you guys so so much, and I will write a happy song someday, I swear).

Now, to introduce the incredibly talented musicians who made this song sound as good as it does in your ears:

• Ava Clancy, for being a BEAST on the bass.
• JB Whiteley, for writing and flawlessly playing my new favorite drum line.
• Jeremy Felton, for being the fiddler I could only dream about.
• Fletcher Libre, for shredding on the electric guitar (and putting up with all of my melodic requests).
• And last but CERTAINLY not least, the person who has been with me through all of my music making: Morris Raskin.

Thank you all endlessly.

I wrote "musings from the chapel steps" during my freshman year at Bates. The song came to me after a night out — I was on my way back to my dorm when I heard music coming from Gomes Chapel, so I walked in and found a few of my friends playing their guitars very loudly. I sat and listened, drinking a lot of water from my water bottle. Then I went home and wrote a bunch of lyrics down. The song came together in parts: a little after that night, a little in LAX after visiting my cousins over March break, until it eventually took shape. I performed it for the first time at a Bates VCS Student Showcase in December of my sophomore year, and it was a hit! As most things tend to be when you write a song about a building on campus that everyone in the audience knows.

Lyrically, this song is one of my favorites, for a few reasons. Those of you who know me know that I am not a religious person. So why did I write a song where I say the word "God" so many times? And why did I specify God's gender? Honestly, I don't have a great answer, other than it sounded good to me (and I have been societally conditioned to refer to God as a male figure — I am not a fan of this conditioning), and by the time I started asking myself these questions, those lyrics had already embedded themselves in my brain. I digress.

"Musings," as I have begun affectionately calling it, doesn't have the standard verse-chorus-verse-bridge structure many of my songs have. It's much more a stream of consciousness with a repeating chorus-like thing ("I don't much believe in God, but if he's up there, I hope he likes the music"). Honestly, I think I'd been listening to a LOT of Ethel Cain — that must be where all the religious iconography came from.

While I was abroad in Dublin, I started thinking about my music thesis and concluded that I wanted to write and produce an album. To do that, I needed help with production, so I emailed Asha Tamirisa and asked if she would support such a project. When I returned to Bates, we spent about an hour a week working through the problems I was encountering.

Once the song was written and I started producing, I began thinking about the arrangement. I wrote parts for guitar and piano, then hit a wall. What I needed was more cooks in the kitchen. I wanted as much live music in the recording as possible, so I reached out to my musician friends for help — and thus began some of the most fulfilling moments of this project. Bringing my friends into the studio, hearing their ideas, and working together to get it done were some of the most beautiful moments I've had in a long time. Every musician I created with, whether their contributions made it into the song or not, taught me a great deal about communicating my vision — and about knowing when to steer the creative process and when to step back and let things unfold.

Music is a collaborative art, and it feels incredible to share this with all of you. There's more music on the way, so in the meantime — stream my songs! Tell me how much you love them (or don't)! Give me ideas for other songs! All this to say: thank you for your support and your attention. I love you all.