Margaret Glaspy Breaks Down New Album Echo the Diamond Track by Track: Exclusive

Jonah Krueger
·4 min read
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The post Margaret Glaspy Breaks Down New Album Echo the Diamond Track by Track: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.

Track by Track is a recurring feature series in which artists guide readers through every song on their latest release. Today, Margaret Glaspy takes us through her latest record, Echo the Diamond.

Today (Friday, August 17th), songwriter Margaret Glaspy returns with her third full-length record, Echo the Diamond. Expanding upon the the sound and themes of her previous effort, Devotion, Echo the Diamond finds Glaspy trusting her instincts and imbuing the batch of songs with a newfound rawness and grit.

With many of the tracks incorporating the musicians’ first takes, Glaspy’s songwriting has never felt so immediate or urgent. Over blues-injected, contemplative tunes, she attempts put indescribable emotions into words — and, as she’ll admit, sometimes even she doesn’t fully understand all of the complex nuances explored in her work.

“[It] holds some mysterious qualities that I don’t quite understand yet,” she tells Consequence of the song “I Didn’t Think So.” “There is a darkness in this song that makes me feel free and dives deep into my experience on this earth to date. I couldn’t explain to you what it all means.”

Glaspy’s follow-up to her 2020 album Devotion manages to uncover unknown feelings, both positive and negative, as she transforms her personal experiences into universal truths. No matter how specific Glaspy’s lyrics become, these songs speak for everyone.

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Listen to Margaret Glaspy’s Echo the Diamond below, followed by the artist’s Track by Track breakdown of the project.

“Act Natural”:

I wrote this song while living on a tour bus. I would try it out at soundcheck every night and it came together over the course of a few days. I needed a riff and the first thing I tried ended up being what I kept. “Act Natural” is incredibly fun to play and it was really fun to write.

“Get Back”:

“Get Back” had a few different lives and once I figured out the version that you hear now, I knew it was the right skin for the song to live in. This is probably one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. It gave me a place for the guitar and voice to be free, and playing it with Dave King and Chris Morrissey felt like flying.

“Female Brain”:

This song was one of the most fun to record. What you hear on record was a rehearsal and we ended up keeping it, under the guidance of my partner Julian. “Female Brain” is a personal account of, at times, what breathing while female feels like.

“Irish Goodbye”:

“Irish Goodbye” is an homage to New York City, in a way. New York is filled with a lot of dimly lit places where you can meet an array of fluorescent or not-so-fluorescent people. Slipping out the back door and moving on to the next dimly lit place is a part of the New York experience and it was fun to capture that. At the heart of it all is a person trying to find a match a little too earnestly, only to be left behind by someone that is doing them a favor by not leading them on. I think both characters are good people.

“I Didn’t Think So”:

This is a favorite of mine to play live and holds some mysterious qualities that I don’t quite understand yet. There is a darkness in this song that makes me feel free and dives deep into my experience on this earth to date. I couldn’t explain to you what it all means.

“Memories”:

The last few years have been the hardest. This song was born out of grief.

“Turn the Engine”:

“Turn the Engine” has been a healthy reminder for myself to keep it all in perspective and remember that I have a track record for being pretty mean to myself. Every time I sing it, compassion enters the building and I crave to be more patient with myself and to others around me.

“Hammer and the Nail”:

This is the only co-write on the record. I was on the road and my dear friend Ryan Lerman sent me a song he was working on and I asked if I could take parts of it and make it my own. I am lucky that he obliged and I think it stands at as a unique track on this record.

“My Eyes”:

I remember loving putting this song together. It was more puzzle-like than the others and took a little bit of crafting. It felt like a slight tribute to Alanis Morisette; I think I was channeling what I had learned from listening to her music and watching her incredible performances over the years.

“People Who Talk”:

Julian and I had just moved into a new house and a family of mourning doves had just made their home on our back porch. Dragonflies were everywhere and I was beginning to take in what it meant to not live in the heart of New York City anymore. In the quiet of our new home, this song was born.

Margaret Glaspy Breaks Down New Album Echo the Diamond Track by Track: Exclusive
Jonah Krueger

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