She also broke out of her established pattern of


self-reliance, and wrote


with other musicians: Sia Furler, Inara George, Eleni Mandell, Charlie Wadhams. The lone cover on the album is the frolicsome love call “Vibe So Hot,„ which was written by Benji Hughes. Although there were opportunities to work with well- known veterans, the process came most naturally when it didn‘t stray far outside her immediate social orbit. It was George—the voice of the bird and the bee, and co-author of the twinkling “City Lights (Pretty Lights)„—who pointed her towards their fellow Los Angeles denizen Mandell. In turn, that pair concocted the standout “Oo La La.„ Much like that jazzy collaboration, in which the narrator allows little deviations in a daily routine to open the door to adventure, these creative alliances helped Ahn unlock a more mature, sophisticated approach to her craft.


The next step was translating the fledgling songs into demos. Although she plays myriad instruments on the album, including electric and acoustic guitar, banjo, autoharp, piano, organ, and a wide variety of keyboards, Ahn‘s home studio is a very modest affair. So she used her own voice to emulate different instrumental colors and parts, layering harmonies. Many of these ideas carried over into the final record, yielding beautifully layered vocal parts that evoke the intricate, multi-tracked arrangements of the Beach Boys and Kirsty MacColl.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92