JUNIPER

old school liner notes for the debut LP.

Bend to the Light

I'm sure there's a reason to object to dreaming
But I just don't know what it is
I'm sure it's appealing to hold tight the feeling
So it doesn't fall through our skin
Fall through our skin
Fall through our skin
Let the daylight in
Let the daylight in
Oh

The darkness, I wonder, we might get pulled under
But we can sing songs til we go
When the timing is just right you'll lace your hands in mine
And we can walk each other home
Walk each other home
Walk each other home
God only knows
God only knows

Somehow we know we were born to bend to the light
Somehow we know we were born to lay down our lives
Somehow we know love is all we make that survives
Somehow we know we were born to bend to the light

Written February 2, 2020
Every now and again, a song comes out fully formed. Sometimes you crack the door open and the wind blows through. Sometimes you pull the blinds back and the daylight comes in.

track one

Lemons

I wanna pick all the lemons
From the tree behind the fire pit 
I wanna run through the halls of our home 
I wanna linger for hours 
On all the small and glorious things 
I want to tell you you’re never alone 
Oh it could be you
Just me and you

This could be the place that we called to 
In the darker nights
It’s a dim reflection now 
Eyes wide, adjusting
This could be the place we were headed 
When we didn’t  know 
What we were gonna do
Eyes wide and trusting
This could be the place

I wanna measure a lifetime 
By the changing leaves 
By the give and take away
I want to grow more gentle with you
I want to sing to our children 
Til they know our love 
Like the sun at break of day
Watch them grow like the foxgloves do
It’s always been you
Forever it’s you

This could be the place that we called to 
In the darker nights
It’s a dim reflection now 
Eyes wide, adjusting
This could be the place we were headed 
When we didn’t know 
What we were gonna do
Eyes wide and trusting
This could be the place
This could be the place

This must be the place that we called to 
In the darker nights
It’s a dim reflection now 
Eyes wide adjusting
This must be the place we were headed 
When we didn’t know 
What we were gonna do
Eyes wide and trusting
This must be the place
This must be the place

In production, each song begins with some kind of musical vision board — when I picture this song, I picture a cup of this, a hint of this. Here’s what we pulled from when creating Lemons:

  • Room for You - JOSEPH

  • If I Told - Courtney Marie Andrews

  • You - The Invention of Flight

track two

New Orleans

I’ve been making peace with a lost year
Time flew by like God can I rest my soul
I’ve been making space for the big fears
Arms stretched wide outside where the wild things grow
We can go

I think I finally know me better
I think I’m sick of cloudy weather
Let’s do what we thought we could never

Oh we could spend some time running
How about you pack a bag
While I bring the car around
Oh lover I’ve been thinking
Only 1500 miles between here and New Orleans

We can find the place from our daydreams
Fieldside, eyes wide, light in the bloodstream, oh
We can go
Life’s a little different that it seemed
Taller mountains, more trouble upstream, oh

I think I finally know me better
I think I’m sick of cloudy weather
Let’s do what we thought we could never
And just pack up before anyone knows
Find our own place on the southern coast

Oh we could spend some time running
How about you pack a bag
While I bring the car around
Oh lover I’ve been thinking
Only 1500 miles between here and New Orleans

We can sit and watch our life pass by 
Or we can walk the French Quarter at night
We can build a future on our time
So just give me the green and we can drive

Oh we could spend some time running
How about you pack a bag
While I bring the car around
Oh lover I’ve been thinking
Only 1500 miles between here and New Orleans

track three

Danni Hoshino - pedal steel
Daniel Radin - backing vocals

Gifted

I know it feels 
Like you’re out on the line 
A burned out gifted kid 
With a mind like a diamond
You missed the boat for prodigy 
As the years unwind 
But I promise you 
You’re gonna be just fine 

You heard over and over
You’re gonna do something wild
They’ll have your name engraved
On a sidewalk tile
But the lights went out
Like you did and I promise you
You’re gonna be just fine

Cause you don’t owe 
Anyone any part of this life
You are not behind

You can lie
with all the lights turned out
Feel the walls caving in
With the weight of your doubt 
I can drive 
the whole route to your house 
Every sharp right turn 
I’ve memorized it all by now 

You don’t owe anyone any part of this life
You are not behind
Hands on your chest unravel your fears
Let the ground cry out you’re already here
You’re alive
You are not behind

Put your hand on your chest
Just to feel yourself breathe
Look for every shade of emerald
In the backyard apple tree
You can trust the ground beneath you
You can trust the good you find
Now that you can shed the perfect
You can finally be fine

‘Cause you don’t owe anyone any part of this life
You are not behind
Hands on your chest unravel your fears
Let the ground cry out you’re already here
You’re alive
You are not behind

You don’t spend your days
with your name in lights
But you’ve been busy
Building your own life

track four

Written November 13, 2021
Beloved, may your dreams feed your soul. Press into the bravery to pursue what ignites you. And when your dreams change, let them change. May you extend yourself the grace to honor your shifting sands. Define and tirelessly pursue goodness in your life, whatever that looks like.

Loud House

I want a loud house and so do you
I want an extra chair at the table too
I want to stay forever young
As I grow old with you
I want a loud house and so do you

I want an easy laugh and so do you
I want to sing until the sun breaks through 
I want to dance tonight with all our friends
And not come home til two 
I want an easy laugh and so do you

We could drive through every town
Just pointing out houses with the windows rolled down
And we can build a future now 
Just seeds in the garden shoes in the house
Surrounded

Surrounded
Surrounded
Surrounded, surrounded

I want a soft grip and so do you
I want to ask more questions I don’t have the answers to
I want to stay forever wondering
If all we know is true
I want a soft grip and so do you

Surrounded
Surrounded

track five

Written February 4, 2020
Loud House was written during a season of difficult love - disorienting, inconsistent, withholding, manipulative. In the midst of it all, I found my heart demanding to be heard. You can recognize good love, it said. Don’t abandon yourself. Remember. Loud House was a daydream of sorts, a north star I used as I reoriented, rebuilt, and eventually found the love I dreamed of.

During the production process, we switched the song from 4/4 to 3/4 to turn it into a waltz (you can hear the 4/4 version in the original demo) — I danced around my room to find the perfect tempo for slow dancing with the one you love.

Danni Hoshino - pedal steel

Night Driving

I know that we've been tired
I know that I have been gun shy around you darling, darling, darling, darling
I know we caught a fever
I know that we've been both caught up
We've both been starving, starving, starving, starving

When I take a walk
And when I talk to God
She says remember you are young and I'm behind you
There are days a heart must weather
So go and go together
So I'd like to spend all my days right beside you

I don't want to go without you
Wherever you're going, that's where I am going
I don't want to go without you
Until we're arriving, we'll take turns night driving

I know we set a fire
I know that we've been jumping rope around it darling
I know we couldn't dream it
That we would go and lay down what we've both been guarding

When I take a walk
And when I talk to God
She says remember you are young and I'm behind you
There are days a heart must weather
So go and go together
So I'd like to spend all my days right beside you

I don't want to go without you
Wherever you're going, that's where I am going
I don't want to go without you
Until we're arriving, we'll take turns night driving

I don't want to go without you
Wherever you're going, that's where I am going
I don't want to go without you
Until we're arriving, we'll take turns night driving

track six

Written February 12, 2020
In production, each song begins with some kind of musical vision board — when I picture this song, I picture a cup of this, a hint of this. Here’s what we pulled from for Night Driving:

  • I Think He Knows - Taylor Swift

  • Canyon - JOSEPH

  • MUNA synth

Faraway Eyes

You’re wearing those faraway eyes
I know them far too well 
Did we not just late last night 
Make a little heaven out of all our hell 
I can’t make you fight for this
So I have just one question

Did our hearts not burn within us? 
Did our souls not dance all night? 
Was the lake frozen over when we walked on the water? 
Am I seeing this thing right? 
Cause I think we’ve got more to fight for
Was I a fool to think that we could ever walk on the water?
We could walk on

You’re wearing the soles of your shoes
Pacing ‘round this house all night 
You’ll be singing the same old blues
Over and over til the morning light 

Did our hearts not burn within us? 
Did our souls not dance all night? 
Was the lake frozen over when we walked on the water?
Am I seeing this thing right? 
Cause I think we’ve got more to fight for
Was I a fool to think that we could ever walk on the water?
We could walk on

I cannot defend these walls alone
And fight for both of our lives
I know the only way that we can work this out
Is if you look me in the eye

I believe we can walk on the water
Oh I believe
Oh I believe
We can walk on
We can walk on

Did our hearts not burn within us? 
Did our souls not dance all night? 
Was the lake frozen over when we walked on the water?
Baby, step into the light
Cause I know we have more to fight for
Oh I know I wasn’t dreaming when we walked on the water
We can walk on
Oh we can walk on

track seven

Written February 16, 2020
When Daniel and I start working on a song together, we hop on Zoom and talk through the song, adjust lyrics for clarity, and send songs back and forth for arrangement inspiration. When I brought this one to Daniel, he sent over Bonnie Raitt’s I Can’t Make You Love Me, one of my favorite songs of all time. I felt immediate kinship with the slow, mournful organ — the song slowed and the sparse, gentle arrangement followed.

Sand

If the rocks are shaped
By the wilder ways
Of the waves when they roll in
I’m gonna be sand 
Before I know it 
From all my days of loving him

She sits alone on the floor of the kitchen
Saying, “how did I come to this?”
Watches her grief with wide eyes
Tidal waves a hundred feet high
When do they become just bumps in the night?

She cries
If the rocks are shaped
By the wilder ways
Of the waves when they roll in
I’m gonna be sand 
Before I know it 
From all my days of loving him

I’m gonna be sand
Any day now, sand 

But when 2am lays her soul bare
She’s a signal flare
Don’t be scared
You know that new life lives there
In the dark, in the deep
Place beyond where words can reach
There she’s finds she’s alive 
to everything

Shave down my sides
Fix my eyes on a better way of living
Count myself blessed
Daughter of unrest
Created by the crashing 

She cries
If the rocks are shaped
By the wilder ways
Of the waves when they roll in
I’m gonna be sand 
Before I know it 
Collected up to build ourselves a better land 

I’m gonna be sand

track eight

We Could Be Friends

Oh did our stories begin the same
Jump in deep, push the shore away
I think your anger looks a lot like mine, I’m afraid
Oh did it make you lose your breath
How quickly it changed one day to the next
Oh did you leave with less than nothing left in the end

I’ve never had more in common with a stranger
I’ve never felt more protective in the face of danger
His others, I wonder
Did his sun shine like no other
I know far too well how this story ends
So maybe we could be friends

Oh did he promise to love you right
Take both your hands by the fireside
Saying don’t give up I swear it’s gonna be different this time
Did he try to make you disappear
Make you shoulder all his private fears
Hope LA is giving you your dreams and better years

I’ve never had more in common with a stranger
I’ve never felt more protective in the face of danger
His others, I wonder
Did his sun shine like no other
I know far too well how this story ends
So maybe we could be friends

I hope that you’ve regained your thunder
If you ever need someone to talk to
Long over, I know
But it’s a club neither one of us asked to belong to 
I know far too well what’s in your head
So maybe we could be friends

track nine

feat. Kaiti Jones

Holy Ground

I chased the road that runs back
Along the power lines
Your words they rattle in the back seat
The back of my mind
The world’s a little different
Than how it was described
The black and white that held me
Blur in front of my eyes  

I yell can you hear me now
I’m shouting through the din of the maddening crowd
I think you’ve been hiding out
I’m circling the drain with my gathering doubt
Can you hear me now

Oh have I lost my way now
Oh have I let you down
The words they never tasted
Quite right inside my mouth
You say take off your shoes 
Cause you’re on holy ground
Give up your need to find the answer
And lay in twilight now

I think I can hear you now
The whisper in the din of the maddening crowd
I know I’ve been hiding out
Just circling the drain with my gathering doubt
But you still find me out
You still find me out

Oh
I can hear you now

track ten

Greg Daigle - backing vocals
Daniel Radin - backing vocals

Call

Why do you call
Why do you call when I do not pick up the phone
Why do you call
When I clearly have no interest in being known
Why do you call on me
Why do you call on me
You keep calling on me

Why do you knock
Why do you knock when I do not come to the door
Why do you knock
Just to offer everything you have and nothing more, nothing more
Why do you knock
Why do you want to give it all to me
Why do you knock so carelessly
You knock for me
You keep calling on me

I have an impression
You are more than I have known
And I've got this feeling
Coming straight from out my bones
I will bring my haunted heart
My haunted heart
My haunted heart to you
If you keep calling on me

You've shaken my bones
Oh heaven knows
That I am awake when I'm with you
How dare you, how dare you
So shake all the clots
From out of my blood
It's so heavenly to be alone with you
How dare you, how dare you

I have an impression
You are more than I have known
And I've got this feeling
Coming straight from out my bones
I will bring my haunted heart
My haunted heart
My haunted heart to you
If you keep calling on me

track eleven

Beloved, listen in the quiet of the night. Drop inward and listen to the pull of your heart, even if it’s fearful. Your heart can see further than your eyes — it is brilliant, it is wise, and it has knowledge to share in the stillness.

Musical vision board:

  • Be Thou My Vision - Audrey Assad

  • Whirlwind - JOSEPH

New Again

I'm seeing old lives in my dreams
I'm thinking maybe that just means
I'm growing into everything

I'm looking at polaroids in my head
Taking stock of the things that I left unsaid
Waking up with a melody in my head

Ooh
I think I might be new again
Ooh
I think I might be new again

I'm headed to places that I don't know
I'm finding a love that I can't let go
I'm free and I finally think it shows

You're seeing holes inside my mind
Stuck between darkness and divine
But maybe that's where the light will shine

Ooh
I think I might be new again

We are loved with love that cannot shatter
We shine with light that cannot scatter

track twelve

Written April 28, 2020

Beloved, do not fear the dissolving. You will not disappear. You will  come alive. The suffering will come. And when the it comes, we will heal in the direction of love, and we will be new again.

Liner Notes

All songs written by Lindsey Sampson
Produced by Daniel Radin
Engineered by Daniel Radin
Mixed by Daniel Radin
Mastered by Ed Brooks at Resonant Mastering
Drums recorded by Colby Blauvelt at Brighton Hills West Recording in Watertown, MA
All other instruments recorded by Daniel Radin at Brighton Hills West Recording in Watertown, MA
Photography & album design by The Secret Bureau of Art + Design