Track By Track: TEA LEAF - 'Motions EP'
TEA LEAF has just released his EP ‘Motions’ via Beth Shalom Records, it is five tracks of beautiful acoustic indie story telling. He took a moment to talk us through the release - track by track.
PROMISE
Opening tracks usually set the tone for what’s to come I suppose, so I feel this song is appropriately stark and straight-forward in terms of that. Lyrically, I’m free-flowing through thoughts such as my traumas, depression, and suicidal feelings. I wrote this really quickly, and although I was in a darker mindset, I was determined to have it end with a positive mantra. “Be kind to yourself” is a phrase friends often say to me, and it is something I am often trying to remind myself of, even when I feel lost from it sometimes.
MOTIONS
Similarly to ‘Promise’, I wrote this pretty quickly, except it was originally a lot moodier and penned using a midi keyboard organ on my laptop - I’m sure somewhere in a hotel room in northern Italy awhile back, while I was living out there. Similar themes, particularly with how I’m trying to convince myself towards some form of self-kindness and positivity, through the use of third-person in the choruses. The verse stanzas are me falling through a hole, while the choruses are a version of me trying to pull myself out. I like the bare arrangement Rich [producer, member of Happy Accidents] and I ended upon with this. It feels lighter than when I wrote it, and I guess that in itself is a positive motion.
SUMMER
This song is my first written in an open tuning! Small writing milestone for me, so I feel proud of this one. Lyrically, it’s a reflection piece split in two halves. I really like how the outro sounds, and I’m so glad to have my friends Kathryn & Myles [from Fresh & ME REX respectively] sing on this track with me. We recorded this in Rich’s room, right before we set off on an acoustic tour together back in February, and hearing their voices on it for the first time really uplifted me. I feel alone so much of the time, and this song is about trying to get better mentally and emotionally, and not feel so awful about myself all the time. It means a great deal, and I feel more supported hearing them on this.
GRIEF
I wrote this a long time ago, and there was almost no arrangement in the original demo honestly, so I wasn’t sure how to present it when I brought it to Rich for recording. I just knew, that I wanted to record the song for this EP. I ended up playing this off-the-cuff fingerpicking pattern and recorded the vocals over it. I think it was a single take, full-run, and then we added the Casiotone keyboard and effects. I don’t know how listenable this is to others, as it’s so blunt in its delivery. I find this song pretty difficult, so I don’t tend to play this song live, but I’m glad it’s included in here. It felt appropriate, and I hope it’s of some value to someone out there. I feel like I let Rich take the reins a bit more with this track, and I think he did a wonderful job.
31/12
Wanting to end on this track, alongside ‘Grief’, is my way of representing the non-linear state of progression. It’s a heavy EP emotionally, and although it gets lighter at points, I think I have to accept my self-improvement (in terms of my well-being) is never going to be a straight line. I’m going to have plenty of setbacks, breakdowns, and falls, and that’s okay. It’s how I work myself out of them each time, and learn from them. The last line, “As all hands begin to turn towards you” feels it was written solely for me to listen to. I guess it was.