My co-writer (Nick Baker), our engineer Jared Brown and I recorded most of the album at Graham Nash’s house in Los Angeles. My live band laid down several tracks – it was really cool to have other musicians besides the usual team (myself & Nick)!
It was a fun (too much fun at times!) and a vibey environment, seeming as though we were on some exotic island – we heard the call of neighbors’ peacocks during sessions, which made recording vocals interesting.
It was also very inspiring to record in the Nash studio – there was a beautiful portrait of Joni Mitchell, pictures of the Beatles, and Graham’s cool hippy jeans he wore at Woodstock!
It’s really exciting to have this album for the world to hear. I am very proud of every song and I hope you will love “Modern Fairytale” as much as my friends & I loved creating it.
A big Russian hug & spasibo!!!
~ Marina :)
SONG NOTES
1. Hope
Traveling & touring all over the world made me realize how much alike we, humans, really are. We all want love, happiness and peace. And it’s absolutely incredible how music transcends culture, age or language barrier. I call this song my ultimate peace song.
2. The Strength I Need
Life is crazy, and so is this music business. Some days are great, and some are not as much. But I always hope that I will have it within me to deal with whatever life brings.
3. Sunshine Guaranteed
As a huge Beatles fan, I wanted this song to sound like a straight-out-of-the-60s happy tune. This is one of the few songs I wrote in less than 10 minutes – right before my first tour in the UK in April 2007.
4. Fool
People, especially in the American culture, often feel like they’re supposed to show the world their happy face, no matter what might be going on deep down inside. A fake smile, a phony “hi, how are you” are the little things that mask the real feelings. I think it’s okay not to be happy 100% of the time – it’s part of life, isn’t it?
5. Fate
”so here’s the inside story, this is a modern fairytale”….
We tried to record this song in a fun way, kind of like obladi-oblada by the Beatles. We recorded 4 other versions with 2 different producers prior to this version! Our guitar player was a trooper for bearing with us on all the versions!
6. I’ll Stand Up For You
This is a song for all parents – including our beautiful mother Earth.
7. Alone
I wrote this song when I was 17 and I had just returned to America, only to find out that I couldn’t get a visa to go to college or a visa to legally work here. It took me a year and a half to straighten things out, but during that time I couldn’t go back to Russia to visit my family, and I also found out that my mother was moving to Australia. I was very lonely and scared, and very down for a long time. But writing songs really saved me, and this was one of the first ones I wrote in America.
I didn’t think this song would fit on “Modern Fairytale”, but I realized that this song is the “overcoming the obstacle” part of the fairytale.
8. Love Me Back
My co-writer Nick always jokes and calls this song “Love Me Front” (with a fake Liverpool accent, a la Paul McCartney). When I play this song live, I use a distortion pedal (meant for guitars) on my keyboard. It’s really fun!
9. Wilhelmina
Last year we went on tour to the Czech Republic and played in an incredibly beautiful and a very old town called Cesky Krumlov. The venue was a 700 year-old puppet museum (with some really, and I mean really creepy puppets), called “Fairytale House”. The owner gave us a tour and told us about Wilhelmina, the ghost that’s been living in the attic for many centuries.
10. Rain On The Butterfly
The only fictional song on this album. We were recording “The Strength I Need” at my friend’s studio, and he had a drawing by his friend’s child, it was called “Rain on the Butterfly”. It was really cute and my co-writer Nick said that it would be great to write a song about a butterfly that flies around protecting children from the rain, a guardian angel of sorts.
11. Babushka/Grandmother - in Russian
I wrote this song for my grandmother, who used to put me on her lap, brush my hair and sing to me. She called me her little princess with golden locks of hair and she made me feel like the most special child in the world. She was also the very first person who would listen to me play the piano and record me on her little cassette player, like a real concert. She died of cancer when I was very young. Now, all grown up, in this crazy world we live in, I am just wondering if she’s looking down at me from heaven, if heaven even exists. It would be beautiful to re-live the past, even for just one moment.
12. Moonlight Lullaby
Very much inspired by Golden Slumbers, the song kind of wrote itself. It’s a sweet, peaceful & a hopeful end to the Fairytale.
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