No Place Like Home

"No Place Like Home" is where everything started for me. It was the first thing I wrote on piano, back in 2022. I wasn't trying to write anything, just messing around, and the melody kind of just happened. I kept coming back to it. It's not the most complex track on the album. But without it, there probably wouldn't be an album at all.

"Dreamchaser" was a title I had stuck in my head long before I had the song to go with it. When I first wrote it, I didn't really know what it meant. Looking back, it's pretty obvious: I'm the dreamchaser. It's about wanting to stay home and knowing you can't, not if you actually want to go somewhere. This was also the first song I ever played live, at the Fir Point Fall Festival in 2024.

"The Neighbor Girl" is about one of my best friends. I've known her for over ten years. She's honestly one of the smartest, most interesting people I've ever met. I moved away, but we've stayed close. I wanted to write something just for her, like a character theme. She's been a big part of my life for a long time, and this felt like the right way to show that.

"Celui Que J'aimais" means "The One I Loved" in French. Unlike most of the album, it's not tied to anything specific from my life. I wrote it to be slower and quieter, more of a breather between the upbeat tracks. The title is vague on purpose. I wanted people to bring their own meaning to it, loss, an old relationship, whatever. The French came from Debussy's "Clair de lune." There's something eerie and beautiful about that piece that I was chasing, and a French title felt like part of getting there.

"Theatre" is one of the first songs I ever wrote. It's about my years performing with Out of the Woods Family Theater, from 2018 to 2022. Those were some of the best years of my life. I still look back on them a lot.

"Blue Morpho" was my first single. I wrote it for my sister, Kindle. The blue morpho is her favorite butterfly, and I tried to make the melody feel like wings fluttering. Since I moved we don't see each other as much, so this was kind of my way of holding onto that.

"The Letter" is the darkest song on the album. It's about the kind of letter someone writes before deciding to end their life. 

"Friendship" is a song dedicated to all of my friends who have supported me and been there for me since the beginning. One of the hardest things about moving away was realizing I wouldn't be able to see them as much. 

"Church Next Door" was composed to reflect the style of hymns they play at the Community Church in Blanchard, Idaho. This church played a big part in my childhood because my dad used to be a pastor there. When I was younger, we lived in the parsonage right by the church, making it, quite literally, "the church next door." 

"Blanchard" is a song dedicated to the entire town. I wanted to capture the memories and joy of walking through the area, like kids hanging out at the park, people driving across town, and just seeing familiar faces everywhere you look. I'm still very fond of Blanchard, and growing up there definitely shaped a lot of my childhood. 

"For Jane" is arguably the most important song on the album. Jane is my grandmother, and she is quite literally the entire reason this album exists to begin with. I wanted to make a specific song just for her. 

"Moving Away" is a mashup of every other song on the album. It's meant to feel like driving away from your old house and reminiscing about all the memories, feeling both hopeful and melancholic about the days ahead.