“Home Isn’t Home” is the first album to introduce Cindy Lemaire as my fellow vocalist. When we first met, I had no idea that she could sing. But once I heard her voice, it added a whole new level to our relationship. Lucky for me, Cindy, who was not really interested in a life on stage, was still amenable to learning my songs. She was also OK with creating a duo with me and performing my music live. And so…

Here is the instrumental concept behind “Home Isn’t Home”:

A work of art is often defined by what it is not.

On this CD, the concept is to limit ourselves to my one guitar, and our two voices-- the small palette of instruments we use at a live show. A photographer creates a different kind of composition if he restricts himself to black and white. By the same token, when musicians choose fewer instruments, they have to use them more inventively.

Often, when you attend an acoustic music show, the CD that you purchase might come as something of a shock when you get it home. Often, there are lots of instruments that you didn’t hear at the performance, filling out the sound and making it more “professional “. The original voices and guitar might be in there, but they are buried deeply and the whole sound has shifted.

On many folks’ albums, this can be a positive thing. But when I play guitar, I put some specific musical statements behind our voices. I don’t want to bury them. And the vocal blend that Cindy and I have is a delicate thing, and I do not want to cover it up. So my intention on “Home” is to just use one guitar and our two voices- same as at a live show.

BUT: A lot of times I DO hear a rhythm section in my head and I want it to be stated in the song. So then I need to break my own rule!

Folks these days are used to recordings sounding pretty professional and rich sonically—“filled out”. Translation: this isn’t the early 60s anymore--- one guitar can sound empty next to more produced music.

So what to do to make this album sound “big“ while still not adding a bunch of musical candy that covers the guitar and voices? How did we thread this particular needle?

Here is what I settled on:

I chose to allow us a rhythm section (drums and bass) on songs that really called for it. Rarely, some other instrument (like multiple percussion tracks on “Lake of the Coheeries”). But other than that, the center of all these songs is the one guitar part and the two voices the audience hears when Cindy and I perform live.

Within these self-imposed limitations, I have applied great effort to create a wide range of emotions, soundscapes, and moods. My guitar parts contain many lines and musical suggestions- I’m not just strumming the chords. In the mix, I bring out these parts as I hear them in my head: as individual musical statements. And the parts that fretless bass wizard Michael Manring adds go well beyond simply ‘playing the low notes’: his parts are full of ideas and voices that intertwine with the guitar and vocal parts.

Translation: if we got this right, it will not seem like a limited palette to the listener, but rather that “they do a lot with just a little”.

Thanks for reading!

Mark Lemaire July 2022