Dorothy Moskowitz and Paul Conly join Jim Allen on ‘Where I Am’ ahead of ‘Maybe Things Will be Alright’
New York singer-songwriter Jim Allen will release his new album, ‘Maybe Things Will be Alright’, on June 12.
The album brings together folk, roots rock, power pop and alt-country, with several guest musicians appearing across the record. Peter Holsapple of The dB’s appears on the title track, Richard Barone of The Bongos appears on ‘In a Cave’, and Steve Goulding, known for his work with The Mekons and Graham Parker & The Rumour, plays drums on the album.
One of the album’s most unusual moments is ‘Where I Am’, an electro-acoustic ballad featuring Dorothy Moskowitz of The United States of America and Paul Conly of Lothar & The Hand People. Allen, a longtime fan of psychedelic and electronic music, brought the two together for a track that places acoustic instruments alongside synthesizer textures and Moskowitz’s harmonies.
Allen says the idea came from his love of both acts. “As far as the song itself, I grew up with a love of both psychedelia and electronic music, so the USA album and the first Lothar & The Hand People album are all-time faves. It was the thrill of a lifetime for me to assemble a sort of electro-psych dream team of USA singer Dorothy Moskowitz and Lothar keyboardist Paul Conly for ‘Where I Am.'”
Dorothy Moskowitz also shared her thoughts on working with Allen:
“It wasn’t until I scoured our old e mails in preparation to write this note that I realized what a dear friend Jim Allen has become since our first on-line meeting in ‘22. We were introduced to each other by the inimitable guitarist/singer Mike Fornatale, whose praise encouraged my involvement in WHERE I AM. I was immediately struck by Jim’s wit, civility and professionalism. He was, as Mike described, an excellent musician. The tune became an earworm immediately and I loved his words. There was such craft and emotional honesty in the lyrics and listening now to the current release, I hear even more brilliance. I’m so proud to be included in his illustrious line-up and my only regret here is that it took us over a year to exchange phone numbers.”
Paul Conly explained his part in the track:
“For this song, Jim asked me to add an analog Moog track in an ambient style. I no longer have a large model of the ‘60’s but I have 3 synths from the 70’s. All analog with the wonderful Moog filters. I can combine these synths to create a decent approximation of a model 55, with 7-9 oscillators and several filters and amps. No sequencer, no pre-sets, just keyboard control and patching. I first imagine the sounds I desire, and then the first programming steps (patching) become clear to me. It was great that Jim liked what I added to his song.
It was nearly 60 years ago when I first played the Moog synthesizer! If it’s odd that I recall the technical details more than the musical or emotional thoughts , I guess that electronic music is a synthesis of man and machine. Man creates the machine for a purpose and the machine then creates the boundaries in which man creates artistic results.”
‘Maybe Things Will be Alright’ was recorded and mixed by Magic Mike Jung at Hizhaus in Brooklyn, mastered by Scott Anthony at Storybook Sound, and produced by Allen and Jung. The album is available through Jim Allen’s Bandcamp.
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