The Making of FREYjA Album "Not That Girl!"

Hi You all

We have been recording two albums since October.

FREYjA “Not That Girl!”

FREYjA & MyKey “From the Other Side”.

The planning for which, started much earlier in the year, over summer at a friend's house at Chatou, on the outskirts of Paris. We have a major record company interested so are taking these songs very seriously.

This is the introduction to a 13 part diary blog of the second 2 week sessions at Hacienda (two 200 year old buildings which house us all & form the amazing studio, with grand piano & fabulous console & control room) situated in the countryside outside Lyon (5 hour drive from Paris), to keep you all abreast of what goes into the recording of such a huge project. I have 13 people working with me on this album in a team behind the scenes so it is huge. Four engineers, Mykey the producer (arranger, piano player, vocal coach, backup vocalist & all round genius) plus all the musicians – drums, bass, percussion, 3 guitarists (in Paris & London) piano, Hammond organ, electronic drums, violins, saxes, a gospel choir, children singing……

We recorded the ‘beds’ (for those of you who don’t know that covers the acoustic drums, bass & piano – also known as the rhythm section) for two albums here in October. Because this is a lo-fi pop album very little is improvised & Mykey has spent months pre-recording special sounds & electronic drums to create a very different sound for FREYjA

Mykey has also spent the last month arranging the music for guitars, sax, violins & percussion plus editing the drums. Not a single note is overlooked & on 26 original songs (13 written by me alone & 13 co-written with Mykey) that is one hell of a workload. We scheduled together the timing of these overdubs, which take much longer than anyone expected since we are all a bunch of perfectionists & this album has huge expectations attached to it. He has worked non-stop 7 days starting early mornings & way into the wee hours. This has taken its toll on health & heart but it has also been an extremely stimulating & exciting time.

Meals, which are squeezed into half hour breaks at the oddest hours within the mayhem of the very tight & at times gruesome schedule, have sometimes been included in the blog cos the menu of the day helps me mark time, oddly enough. Next time we record away from home I will hire a cook & kitchen hand! Cos it is barely impossible for me to be in three places at the same time…the studio, the kitchen & the supermarket planning the daily meals & cleaning the house (attached to the studio) for the team but that is what I am doing & I am exhausted, it is a huge responsibility & a singer is not much good tired. This is why, I am afraid, I have not been replying to personal emails these last few months. Please forgive me.

We aim to record the vocals for two albums & then spend 6 days mixing the FREYjA album (Not That Girl!). The other album (From The Other Side) will not be mixed till February

We are looking for more keen investors to help lighten the financial costs & buy us a little more time in the studio. If any of you know anyone please let us know

If anyone is interested in being added to the mailing list, just reply to this blog

Cheers

FREYjA & her deliriously tired Team