To cherish life’s goodness, we have to endure the bad. Brand New Heartache (comprised of husband-wife duo Eleese and Matthew Meschery) learn that hard truth inside their new song, “Precious Days.” Evidenced by their live video (below), the song exudes an intoxicating warmth and gallop that’s akin to a horse reaching the horizon. “It took me so long to finally realize / Oh, that I needed you,” sings Matthew. With a twinkle in her eye, Eleese replies, “Well, I don’t know if we can make up for lost time…”
BNH rips the song directly out of their life story. “We wanted to tell a story about when we had broken up and were living in different parts of California,” the duo shares. “This was a difficult time for us, but also we gained a lot of perspective we might not have had otherwise. We liked the lyrical idea of [the song], with each of us taking a verse from our own perspective about our time apart and the decision to reconcile.”
Eleese and Matthew outlined an acoustic rendering of the song from their home studio in Oakland, with accomplished musician James DePrato (Chuck Prophet) lending a helping hand. “James then helped us flush out an even fuller demo with additional guitars, mandolin, and drums,” they add.
The addition of instruments first gave the song a palpitating heartbeat, breath, and finally a racing vitality to live and be free. Later, they visited East Bay Recorders, the studio of their friend Michael Rosen, and Michael Urbano joined in on drums. The duo’s producer, Michael Patterson, soon linked them up with Jebin Bruni on keys. “Jebin’s playing has helped to add a lot of magical layers to many of our songs on the album,” the duo says.
When BNH moved to Nashville, “Precious Days” grew even more. It’d taken root in their souls, but now, it was reaching up to the sun for further nurturing. Eleese and Matthew recorded vocals at Fitting Room Studios with Steve Bern engineering and KP Hawthorn on background vocals. From a suggestion from cosmic Americana artist Aaron Lee Tasjan, they then found Whynot Jansveld to master. It was a longer process, but it proved necessary for the song’s gentle, beautiful blossoms.
“Precious Days” anchors the duo’s forthcoming album, A New Alchemy, out 7/24.
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